Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order calling for “no cell phone education” in public schools to combat what he described as a “serious mental health crisis and chronic health conditions plaguing our youth.”
The bill, signed by Republican lawmakers on Tuesday, directs state agencies and the Department of Education to create new guidelines that will take effect on Jan. 1, 2025.
“The need for implementing anti-cell phone education in Virginia’s elementary, middle and high schools has become increasingly clear,” Governor Youngkin wrote in the order. “Parents, public health experts, educators and other stakeholders across the state have expressed concern about the serious mental health crises and chronic health problems plaguing young people, including depression and anxiety, that are in part due to children’s extensive use of social media and the widespread use of cell phones.”
“No-cell phone education will significantly reduce the amount of time students are allowed to use their phones without parental supervision,” he added.
Republican-led states ask Supreme Court to temporarily block Biden’s student loan program
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin spoke at the Path to Majority Faith and Freedom conference in Washington, DC, on June 22. (Andrew Layden/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Youngkin wrote in the order that children spend an average of nearly five hours a day on social media, and recent studies suggest that adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media are at double the risk of poor mental health.
“Most alarmingly, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for 2019-2021 shows suicide rates have increased 167% since 2010 for girls and 91% since 2010 for boys,” it reports, adding that “depression has also skyrocketed by 161% and 145%, respectively.”
Please read the following order: APP USERS: click here
“Historically, public schools have often left decisions and consequences regarding cell phone use up to individual teachers, creating a range of expectations and coercions that lead to students frequently checking their phones, scrolling social media and sending direct messages,” Youngkin said.
Citing research, he argued that students who use cell phones in class “learn less and get lower grades.”
Three Columbia University employees fired after exchanging anti-Semitic text messages
English teacher Jessica Alford guides students into her classroom at George Mason Elementary School in Alexandria, Virginia, on Aug. 21, 2023. Youngkin aims to crack down on cellphone use in public schools. (Craig Hudson for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The executive order suggests that the use of cell phone “lockers” or pouches could be one way to restrict cell phone use in schools.
Last year, Florida became the first state to crack down on cellphone use in schools with a new law. Indiana and Ohio passed their own laws this year, and several other states have recently introduced what are known as “no-cellphone schools” laws.
In Virginia’s capital, Richmond, Governor Youngkin’s order has the full support of public school superintendents.
Youngkin said “chronic health conditions that plague adolescents, such as depression and anxiety,” are “driven in part by kids’ heavy use of social media and the prevalence of cell phones.” (Getty Images)
Click here to get the FOX News app
“When we piloted cell phone bans in some high schools and middle schools last year, we found that students were more likely to focus in class and had fewer distractions throughout the day,” Jason Kamras told The Associated Press. “What’s more, students reported having more time to talk with their peers.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
