Controlling Cell Phone Use in Schools and Other Mental Health Initiatives

By Vin Gopal

Senator Vin Gopal

The State Legislature has advanced a bill to require the Department of Education to set cell phone and social media guidelines, an important step to removing distractions that impede student success and mental health.

The Senate passed the legislation, cosponsored by the LD11 Legislative Team, and the Assembly Education Committee approved it last week.

Parents, educators, and students have been grappling with how students’ use of smartphones and social media impacts their mental health and academic performance for some time. A number of studies on the use of cell phones in the classroom have reported detailed the negative impacts of excessive cell phone use on students. In addition to increased anxiety and depression, inattention, and poorer academic performance, the studies showed that too much time on the cell phone can result in sleeping problems.

The U.S Surgeon General’s Office last year highlighted the harmful effects of cellphone usage on youth mental health and the importance of a “phone-free” experience in the classroom. During hearings in the Senate Education Committee earlier this year we heard the same concerns from educators and parents who worry about the distraction in the class and the role cellphones and social media play in fueling cyberbullying.

That’s why the Legislative District 11 team cosponsored a bill to require the Department of Education to develop a cell phone and social media policy for schools to adopt. The legislation has had broad bipartisan support, as demonstrated by the Senate unanimously passing the bill last week.

We all want the safest learning environment for our children. But constant misuse of cell phones during school hours undermines teaching and learning. Cell phone use distracts students, and negatively impacts their focus, social skills, and academic performance. The negative impacts go beyond academics. The mental health effects of constant exposure to social media are deeply concerning. Studies show higher rates of depression, anxiety, and absenteeism among students due to excessive phone and social media use.

Another bill recently signed into law addresses the need to make sure individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing have access to mental health services. Both houses unanimously passed the “Right to Mental Health for Individuals who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing Act”.

The Act requires that mental health services be provided in ways that are linguistically appropriate, using the primary means of communication an individual with a hearing disability relies on. The law enables individuals to receive services using more than one method of communication. Those methods will be determined by the Division of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in the Department of Human Services, in consultation with the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services, also part of the DHS.

The law requires that the DHS recruit, develop, and maintain an adequate number of certified mental health professionals and support staff to meet the demand for culturally and linguistically appropriate mental health services, and develop certification criteria for mental health professionals to provide services to clients with hearing disabilities.

You only have to turn on the news to see how important it is to make sure students and persons with disabilities of all kinds have access to mental health services. In addition to helping students and people with disabilities such as hearing loss or deafness succeed, providing access to mental health services reduces crime and makes our communities safer, fairer, and stronger.