Speaker 1: The idea of your kid having a smartphone in the
Speaker 1: classroom is moronic. I can't believe anybody even considers allowing it.
Speaker 1: But California may have set the standard for the whole country,
Speaker 1: as they often do. The Governor, Gavin Newsom has signed
Speaker 1: into law the Phone Freeze School Act.
Speaker 2: And we welcome Josh Hoover, California Assemblyman, to the show.
Speaker 2: Josh was behind the bipartisan act trying to protect kids
Speaker 2: from the harms of smartphone use during the school day. Josh,
Speaker 2: how are you.
Speaker 3: I'm doing great, guys, great to be back.
Speaker 2: Congratulations, well done. Nice to see something bipartisan happening in
Speaker 2: calvi UNICORNEA.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely agree. You know what we have seen from
Speaker 3: twenty ten to twenty nineteen, we've seen anxiety and depression
Speaker 3: rates among adolescents go up by over fifty percent, the
Speaker 3: suicide rates gone up forty eight percent, and among young
Speaker 3: gers g al specifically from ten to fourteen years old,
Speaker 3: we've seen the suicide ray you go up one hundred
Speaker 3: and thirty one percent. These are statistics that Jonathan Height,
Speaker 3: who I know you guys talked about a lot on
Speaker 3: your show, breaks down in his book The Anxious generation,
Speaker 3: And what he says is, you know, one of the
Speaker 3: things we've seen during that same period of time is
Speaker 3: the increased use of smartphones among young people. I'm a
Speaker 3: dad of teenagers, and this is something I'm very passionate
Speaker 3: about getting a hold of. So we introduced the Phone
Speaker 3: Free Schools Act to really limit access to that during
Speaker 3: the school day.
Speaker 1: Well, so, what was the pushback on this? Like, I
Speaker 1: can't believe there even needs to be a law. I
Speaker 1: doubt there's a specific law that says you're not allowed
Speaker 1: to play the trumpet in class. Who would just all
Speaker 1: agree that that's a bad idea nobody needs.
Speaker 4: I've heard you play the trumpet. I don't think you
Speaker 4: need a law.
Speaker 1: What is the pushback on this other than what if
Speaker 1: there's an emergency? Is there any other pushback other than
Speaker 1: the ridiculous overstated what if there's an emergency?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so the bill actually includes exemptions for emergencies, So
Speaker 3: if there was ever an emergency, you certainly could give
Speaker 3: students back access to the phones. But absolutely, I mean,
Speaker 3: this is a very simple rule to implement in schools.
Speaker 3: We're not talking about Nokia's with the game Snake and
Speaker 3: texting on them. I mean, we're talking about access to
Speaker 3: social media, which is the real problem. Gallup, the relatest
Speaker 3: Gallop numbers actually found that kids are spending American teenagers
Speaker 3: are spending five hours per day on social media apps
Speaker 3: alone and during.
Speaker 1: The school day.
Speaker 3: It just absolutely has a terrible impact on their academic
Speaker 3: performance and their mental health.
Speaker 2: So, Josh, we were cracking wise earlier about the fact
Speaker 2: that it takes that the Phone Free Schools Act gives
Speaker 2: county education offices until July first of twenty twenty six
Speaker 2: to draft their pol Why the heck does it take
Speaker 2: that long?
Speaker 3: Well, you know, this is kind of just part of
Speaker 3: the negotiation process, I would. You know, a lot of
Speaker 3: school districts, including by the Way, former school district I
Speaker 3: used to represent, and Los Angeles Unified, which is the
Speaker 3: largest school district in California, have already voted on these policies,
Speaker 3: So it's already happening in a number of places throughout
Speaker 3: the state. But this puts a hard deadline on every
Speaker 3: district in California to take action. I wish it was
Speaker 3: a little sooner, but I think it's important that we're
Speaker 3: forcing them to take action.
Speaker 1: But what the hell, why does it why can't it
Speaker 1: be done by noon today?
Speaker 4: You're not allowed to have a cell phone and class anymore.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you'd have to ask the Democrats who demanded that.
Speaker 2: I guess, I mean, seriously, what's the argument.
Speaker 3: Well, it absolutely could be done by today. And actually
Speaker 3: our hope is that, you know, this really pushes it
Speaker 3: over for districts to start having this conversation immediately. But
Speaker 3: I agree with you, it should be sooner.
Speaker 1: Those of us who aren't in government don't understand how
Speaker 1: what's going on with you all people?
Speaker 4: I mean, it makes no sense to me whatsoever.
Speaker 1: No more cell phones in class.
Speaker 4: You announce over the loudspeaker and it's done. Yeah.
Speaker 2: A lot of these school districts, and Josh, you can
Speaker 2: speak to this, are of fifetoms or do you say
Speaker 2: fiefdoms where you know, the local school boards and the teachers'
Speaker 2: unions and the administration they don't appreciate anybody meddling with
Speaker 2: their deal.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: This bill was actually opposed by the school Boards Association.
Speaker 3: They were actually the only opponent, and it was largely
Speaker 3: due to a local control argument.
Speaker 4: But the reality is that.
Speaker 3: This is clearly a matter of statewide concern. All of
Speaker 3: our kids need to be off their phones during the
Speaker 3: school day.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I understand it.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 4: I'll discuss that when you're when we're done with you. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I'd like.
Speaker 2: To hear more about that anti trumpet legislation, though worth
Speaker 2: mentioning last.
Speaker 3: Phones go by the way.
Speaker 2: You'll take my trombone when you pry it out of
Speaker 2: my No, you can have it, come to think of it.
Speaker 2: Last year, Florida passed the rule barring students cell phones
Speaker 2: from K through twelve. Similar law goes into effect next
Speaker 2: year in Indiana. Ohio, the governor as signed a bill
Speaker 2: makes schools come up with policies to minimize student cell
Speaker 2: phone use wait to impost half measures of Ohio. In Virginia,
Speaker 2: the governors also ordered schools to have cell phone free
Speaker 2: education by January, and in New York City, they said
Speaker 2: last month they would table plans to introduce cell phone ban,
Speaker 2: which had been in effect until twenty fifteen. What see
Speaker 2: year twenty twenty four. Last I check, Eric Adams probably
Speaker 2: got a bribe to keep them in classrooms.
Speaker 4: Anyway.
Speaker 2: You don't have to comment on that, Josh. All right,
Speaker 2: well that's good news. We say, well done, and it's
Speaker 2: good to talk to you as always.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, guys, thanks for covering this all right.
Speaker 4: You got it?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's a good move. It's a little frustrating
Speaker 2: it takes that long a.
Speaker 1: Little, it's just done. But I understand it now. So
Speaker 1: here's my example. Quite a few years ago, Joe and
Speaker 1: I had we're going to do a TV station was
Speaker 1: going to come to an interview with us here at
Speaker 1: the radio station, and had a brand new boss starting
Speaker 1: that day found out that the TV station was going
Speaker 1: to come interview us, and he canceled it because he
Speaker 1: hadn't been consulted on it or involved in the decision
Speaker 1: at all.
Speaker 4: He didn't cancel it because it was a bad idea.
Speaker 4: It was a great idea to have a TV station
Speaker 4: come interviews.
Speaker 1: But it wasn't a good look for who decides what when,
Speaker 1: So he canceled it to make it clear that no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I decide.
Speaker 4: If you're going to have a TV interview or not.
Speaker 4: You don't decide.
Speaker 1: That's what's going on with the pushback on the cell
Speaker 1: phone thing, right, the teacher's unis or whatever. I have
Speaker 1: to say, no, no, no, no, you don't tell us what
Speaker 1: to do, right, even if we're agreement with this we'll
Speaker 1: decide how it rolls out when it rolls out.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm generally very sympathetic to the idea of local
Speaker 2: control of virtually everything, including schools. But to have such
Speaker 2: an undeniably awful force in any classroom is it's indefensible
Speaker 2: on any level. It is a TV screen and a telephone,
Speaker 2: and a porno film and a casino and have a
Speaker 2: dozen other things I can't think of. To have a
Speaker 2: smartphone in the kid's hands during the school day, it's
Speaker 2: it's obscenely, ridiculously beyond the pale to even consider permitting them.
Speaker 1: So every kid having a smartphone in their hand probably didn't.
Speaker 2: Ah, but it's worth I'm sorry, but it's worth pointing out.
Speaker 2: It's often the parents that opposed the band because they're
Speaker 2: so used to being able to reach out and contact
Speaker 2: Junior twenty four to seven.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Michael. Also, you parents use phones to track their kids.
Speaker 4: There's apps where they can actually follow their kids.
Speaker 1: What do you need to track your kid at school
Speaker 1: for he's at school, they've been tag in their ear
Speaker 1: No school. So I'm I'm thinking most kids did not
Speaker 1: have a smartphone until two thousand and Tennis because they
Speaker 1: came out and roughly what seven oh eight, and they're
Speaker 1: too expensive and kids wouldn't have had him, So that
Speaker 1: might even be a little earlier. But so is that
Speaker 1: too early for you? View it too had that experience
Speaker 1: with your kids? They're all out by then or not?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, anyway, just because I don't like the fact that
Speaker 1: it's only in classrooms, I don't because I pull up
Speaker 1: to the school, every single kid standing on the sidewalk
Speaker 1: or you know, on the playground or wherever, is staring
Speaker 1: at their phone. I don't want it there either. No,
Speaker 1: who does? Who wants them off? Who wants the kids
Speaker 1: walking around looking at smartphones.
Speaker 4: After school while they're waiting for you to pick them up?
Speaker 4: Who wants that?
Speaker 2: Gosh, and kids can't communicate and look anybody in the
Speaker 2: eye in our anxiety prone at every human interaction, I
Speaker 2: wonder why.
Speaker 1: But seriously, what's the argument for other than the I
Speaker 1: need to be able to get hold of them?
Speaker 4: Is that the only argument other.
Speaker 2: Than all the other kids are doing it and Junior
Speaker 2: will be very very angry at me if I don't
Speaker 2: let my kid.
Speaker 1: Well, they wouldn't all be doing it if it were
Speaker 1: against the rules. Why are their smartphones allowed at school
Speaker 1: at all? Why do you get to use it for
Speaker 1: a half hour leading up to the bell ringing and
Speaker 1: in between classes and through the whole lunch hour and
Speaker 1: on all school trips where they all ride together and
Speaker 1: stare at their phones instead of talking and joking like we.
Speaker 4: All used to do.
Speaker 1: Why. I don't know.
Speaker 2: It's a horrible development. It's like a dread disease has
Speaker 2: afflicted humanity. But the dread disease was the genius of
Speaker 2: Steve Jobs in Silicon Valley.
Speaker 1: Well, and as always say, those of us who are
Speaker 1: older will all be dead soon and there will be
Speaker 1: nobody to even ask why wouldn't we Hasn't it always
Speaker 1: been this way?
Speaker 4: Didn't the cavemen walk around staring at the smartphones?
Speaker 2: Well? And then, like doctor Fauci, took a dread disease
Speaker 2: and really amped it up, really gave it that gain
Speaker 2: of function. The Mark Zuckerberg's of the world took that wonderful,
Speaker 2: awful invention and made it even worse, put the spike
Speaker 2: proteins of social media on it. And here we are.
Speaker 2: Wasn't the atom baumb folks, It was the Internet ended humanity.
Speaker 1: Armstrong and Getty