SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — As thousands of students throughout San Diego County return to school, they are bringing their cell phones with them. But constant cell phone use in class not only creates a distraction, it can also impact kids' mental health.
San Diego County Supervisor Terra Laswon-Remer is now working to limit that phone time during school.
A 2023 study found that students, on average, receive 237 notifications on their smartphones every single day, many during school hours, which can lead to major disruptions in the classroom.
"They are always 24-7 on their phone!" said one Mira Mesa mom with kids in middle school and high school, adding that getting them to function without their smartphones is a constant struggle.
"When they wake up they already have their cell phones in their hands!" she said.
She supports the idea of limiting kids' cell phone use while at school, a move that County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer is now advocating.
"The mental health of our kids is being severely impacted when they are tethered to their cell phones," Lawson-Remer said.
The U.S. Surgeon General and the American Psychological Association have issued health advisories pointing to studies that link excessive smartphone use among young people to increased anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues.
"Think about how hard school is already," Lawson-Remer added. "and then layer on top of that the distractions caused by your phone and then the trauma created by cyber-bullying."
She is now proposing a new policy which would charge county mental health experts with helping school districts to develop their own plans to curb cell phone usage in school....
This is something that San Diego Unified, the county's largest district, is currently doing.
"It's time for parents and educators and policymakers to step in and set healthy boundaries," said SDUSD School Board Member Cody Petterson.
"I have observed so man, literally thousands of incidents, where cell phone use has negatively impacted learning," said Carlsbad mom Sharon Bodon, who's also a substitute teacher and is a strong supporter of using lockable mobile phone pouches or cell phone lockers to keep phones away from students during class time.
Lawson-Remer is now working with a local non-profit to provide these devices to schools in her district.
"We really need to give our kids a better chance," Bodon said. "They don't stand a chance when this is an option. We have to take that option away from them."
One mom, whose child is a junior at Mira Mesa High School said she sees how phones in the class can distract, "but also as a parent, if there is an emergency, I want to be able to get in touch with my kid right away," she told CBS 8.
It is a concern that Bodon said a lot of parents in Carlsbad had previously expressed.
"For example, if the phone is locked up, what if there is a fire or something horrible like an active shooter, how are the kids going to be able to talk to their parents?" she said. "And no, we confirmed that kids are always going to have access just a few steps across the classroom in an emergency."
The County Board of Supervisors is set to take up this proposed policy at their meeting on Tuesday starting at 9 a.m.
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