EL CERRITO, CA – On Sept. 23, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill meant to limit cell phone use in schools. The legislation requires restrictions to be put in place by school districts by July 1, 2026.
The signing of this bill, Assembly Bill 3216, comes after California’s Democratic governor’s five- year push to limit classroom phone use in order to protect students from learning distractions and mental issues associated with smartphones and social media.
In 2019, Newsom signed AB 272, giving California school districts the power to restrict student smartphone use while at school. Since then, he has been working towards stricter limitations.
Over the summer, Newsom sent a letter to all of California’s public school districts encouraging them to begin implementing restrictions before this legislation legally requires them to.
“As I work with the Legislature to further limit student smartphone use on campus, there is no reason for schools to wait,” Newsom said in his letter. “I urge every school district to act now to restrict smartphone use on campus as we begin the new academic year.”
Assembly Bill 3216 cites evidence of a correlation between smartphones and lower test scores, impaired focus and various mental health concerns such as anxiety and depression, as grounds for mandating restrictions. The bill will require every public school district, charter school, and county office of education to adopt a state approved cell phone restriction policy, and to update it every five years.
“We know that excessive smartphone use increases anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues – but we have the power to intervene,” Newsom told California’s residents after signing the bill into law. “This new law will help students focus on academics, social development, and the world in front of them, not their screens, when they’re in school.”
Newsom isn’t the only one acknowledging the large role phones play in students’ lives. Teachers across California have taken notice of how students use phones in their classrooms.
“Phones are a machine designed to vampire away all your attention, and they’re very good at it,” said Eric Jepson, an AP English teacher at El Cerrito High School. “My class is about people reading books and talking to each other. It’s about human connection, and a phone can’t help with that.”
Jepson’s sentiment is shared by other teachers at El Cerrito High School. Math teacher Melisha Matlock commented on the role phones play in her classroom, and said that she has her students turn their phones in at the start of each class to minimize distractions.
“I remember when students first started bringing their phones to school,” Matlock said. “We thought we could use them as a tool in class, and it was just distracting. While students were using them for calculators and other resources, slowly, but surely they would lean into things they wanted to look at, instead of those tools.”
While AB 727 gives school districts the power to create district wide smartphone restrictions, phone policies at El Cerrito High School are determined at the classroom level, with each teacher deciding their own policy, with varying success.
“My experience both as a teacher and from reading about this is that no phone policy works unless it’s at least at the school level,” Jepson said. “Classroom level policies don’t work very well.”
Despite the new law requiring stricter limitations, both Jepson and Matlock question the bill’s ability to create a significant change in their school. “I’m kind of skeptical that the state has it in them to enforce this,” said Jepson.
“If we respect the policies that are created by our government, whether we vote for them or not, ideally they should work,” Matlock said. “Realistically, not always. There will still be some who are slow to rejoin or rebel.”
