Los Angeles Schools Announce Cellphone Ban Due to Social Media Addiction Concerns

Los Angeles Unified School District, which is the second largest school district in the U.S., just voted to ban students from using cell phones during the school day, amid growing concerns about the mental health side effects of social media, and mounting evidence that cell phones negatively impact students.

The restrictions were announced only one day after U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy called for a warning label on social media platforms, such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram, indicating that the platforms are a significant contributor to the mental health crisis among young Americans.

Murthy indicated that the link between social media and mental health problems among children has become an emerging issue in the U.S., with many teens reporting that they spend an average of 5 hours per day on social media. There is also a growing body of research highlighting how teens face a higher risk of anxiety, depression, suicidal ideations and sleep issues from excessive cell phone use.

Social Media Addiction Lawsuits

The new restrictions in L.A. schools also come as hundreds of families nationwide are pursuing social media addiction lawsuits against Meta, Alphabet Inc., YouTube LLC, Snap Inc., TikTok Inc., Google LLC and other companies, alleging that the social medial platforms are intentionally designed to manipulate and maximize teen engagement.

Recently, a number of different school districts nationwide have also joined the litigation, seeking reimbursement from the platforms for the costs they have incurred to enact mental health programs in schools, create mobile crisis units, and other actions needed to combat social media addictions among students.

The Los Angeles Unified School districted passed the controversial ban last week, following a school board vote of 5 to 2, and it is set to go into effect during the spring semester of 2025, impacting nearly half a million K-12 students in the greater Los Angeles area.

Current restrictions on smartphones in Los Angeles schools ban students from using the devices during class instruction and limit social media at school. However, those measures took effect in 2011, and have become very outdated and difficult to enforce. Therefore, the new rule will ban use of cell phones entirely during the school day.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has voiced his support for the cell phone ban in schools, noting that he signing a law in 2019 that authorized the school districts to impose such limits or restrictions.

June 2024 Social Media Lawsuit Update

As school districts and local governments grapple with how to best address the use of cell phones, many advocates are pointing to the growing evidence of wrongdoing among social media platforms, which will soon come to light in a series of court cases making their way to trial.

Since last year, at least 475 teen social media addition lawsuits have been centralized for pretrial proceedings before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the Northern District of California, where a small group of “bellwether” cases are being prepared for early trial dates to help gauge how juries are likely to respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout the litigation.

According to a pretrial schedule issued earlier this year, the parties are currently engaged in fact discovery and will select specific lawsuits that are the most representative for trial by February 2025, with the first social media addiction jury trials expected to begin by October 2025.