Screens are on everything these days, even refrigerators, staring at you as you open the door, silently judging you. Cars have screens, gas pumps, ATMs, thermostats, washer and dryer panels—screens!!! And now we want our kids to stop using them. Good luck with that.
According to the 2025 Common Sense Media census, 40 percent of 2-year-olds have their own tablet. Two-year-olds! By age 8, 1 in 4 kids have their own cellphone. These kids will never know the pain of waiting for their mom to get off the landline so they can call POP-CORN for the time because their favorite TV show on one of only three channels comes on at 3:30 p.m.
All this easy screen access yields a boatload of negative consequences in children, impacting their cognitive, language, physical, and emotional development, according to research cited by the National Library of Medicine.
California’s solution is the Phone-Free School Act, signed into law two years ago and finally taking effect last month, which means kids returning to school this month will be the first ones navigating the new law. But will schools truly be phone-free environments? Not exactly. The inconsistency of the policy from school to school and even classroom to classroom has parents frustrated.
At Morro Bay High School, students can use their devices if they don’t disrupt class or use them to cheat—it’s up to each teacher to decide what’s allowed, which seems to completely undermine the new law. Let’s see which teacher wants to be known as the biggest dick, eh?
“SLO High, Morro Bay High students, they have to put their phones in a pouch on the wall or the back of the door when they walk in class, but during lunch, they get their phones,” Chad Worth, a San Luis Coastal Unified district parent, said. “I think there are a number of parents that were like, ‘Wait a minute, I thought we passed a bill to get rid of this?’”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but if you give kids access to their phones at lunch, aren’t you still undercutting the point of a phone-free environment?
Mike McPhate, another San Luis Coastal parent, thinks so: “I wish that [Gov. Newsom] just ordered schools to banish phones from schools, but local choice is big here. If you go visit high school during lunch or in between classes, a lot of the kids are just locked into their phones, and it kind of breaks my heart just a little bit. Young people need to be practicing social interactions to prepare themselves for adulthood.”
Instead of having face-to-face interactions with people right in front of them, kids will be champing at the chance to get back on their phones and their games, social media, or endless scrolling. Or, as Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Tony Cipolla noted, back to being targeted by drug dealers, perverts, or scammers who coax kids into sending nudes.
“The scammer [then] tells the juvenile they need to send them money or the scammer will send the picture(s) to the juvenile’s friends/family or post the pictures publicly,” Cipolla said via email.
Yikes! It’s a brave new world. Remember the good old days when you only had to worry about kidnappers in white panel vans with candy looking for a lost puppies? Now, the same device kids use to call their parents for a ride is a direct route to sexploitation and sextortion. Worrisome is right!
You know who else might need to worry? SLO Mayor Erica Stewart, who’s been under fire for sharing a confidential report. Yes, the SLO Personnel Board rejected City Councilmember Jan Marx’s censure complaint against Stewart for sharing the “Round and Round with Town and Gown” grand jury report with Cal Poly, but Stewart isn’t off the hook yet.
The board voted 2-1 on July 27, with board member Patricia Ponce dissenting. Board members Sharon Seitz and Chintan Desai were absent, and the full board will review the draft advisory opinion on the vote on Aug. 14, so it’s subject to change if Seitz and Desai disagree with it. Theoretically, a censure isn’t off the table yet.
What’s your opinion? Should Stewart be censured? The SLO City Council remained mum about it at its Aug. 4 meeting, but two citizens gave public comment criticizing the vote against censure.
City policy states that censuring doesn’t apply to an occasional error in judgement, so was Stewart’s action premeditated or a mere judgment error?
“I will say the whole narrative reads to me like every good intent was made in order to try to get an accurate report together,” board member Calvin Stevens said. “I don’t know what’s being covered up other than it was wrong because [the report was shared] 10 days early.”
Stewart is running for reelection, so whether she’s censured or not means little if the electorate decides she’s out, but here’s the rub. Her challenger is perennial mayoral candidate and artisan welder Don Hedrick, a 1969 Cal Poly industrial technology grad who’s run in every election cycle since 2006. Is this Don’s time to shine? Well, candidates have until Aug. 9 to throw their hats in the right, so inquiring minds want to know: Is Marx running again? ∆
The Shredder thought sharing was caring. Tell it why it’s not at shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Education Today 2026.
We all know rampant cell phone use of young growing adults desensitizes the person’s ability to interact in conversation with another. It’s hard to read books, create art or play a musical instrument when that electronic gadget takes a greater importance than endeavors once enjoyed. Yes schools should monitor these habits and outright ban them in the classroom as should parents who babysit with these devices. Dinnertime is meant to be ….how was your day questioning or what’s new with you. For me the phone yes is an educationary device with access to endless interesting readings and videos. Many young people use it for electronic conversations. Don’t let it take place of real conversation too often. So we develop wholesome habits like we had long ago. Do not be one a cyborg robot. John Edwards SLO
on a sidenote the devil box, I mean hand held high tech cell phone with all its media possibilities maybe a way for the man behind the curtain to track our thoughts, movements, our very lives. I wonder why all our downloads are recorded in some data base and for what reason. You see the elites can tell us anything to shape our opinions and our fears. Lone of my phones had been inundated with viruses they say from China and Iran. I’m not sure I believe it. You see big brother is watching us and attempting to manipulate us in some way. I’m horrified that these mind police will 8 filtrate our souls our minds like worms that feed on our individually and very souls. Education and thinking for thine self is not allowed in this modern world for they want to own our very souls. IndiduLity is crushed and a gullible population will support evility and not put up a fight you see .
An addenda to the previous post . .and a warning to the reader…..do read SLO ly and carefully as the editor or spelling police person was errant once again. The allowing of brazen fouls or mistakes to pass detection is an insult to the purveyors of word structures or sculptures . At this point I am not surprised the United States government does not send agents after these culprits . Why the officials could find yet another way to steal our money and fulfill their dreams of financial saturation over public good. Do read my post carefully . I will try to compose in the future😭at an earlier less tired state. John edwards
Two year olds with tablets?! Kids at lunch break, staring into their phones, instead of talking to each other and having fun.
Since the mid 2000s, I have seen kids sitting on bus benches, at either end of the bench, staring like zombies into that little box in their hands, unaware of anything around them.
It used to be if kids were waiting for a bus, they would talk with each other and be playing around.
It seems the cell phones are diminishing the metal capacity and social skills of the young, and the older people too.
I used to have a sign in my car, for people talking on the cellphones while driving, that said “Get Off the F-ing Phone!” It didn’t work, so that sign went in the trash.
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates have re-engineered most American’s brains, with a 20 second attention span. Have we becoming Gold Fish yet?
Oh, and Mayor Erica Stewart should not be censured. Her actions seemed more like “an error in judgement.”
“Error in judgement,” lol. Did you even read the complaint filed by Councilmember Marx? The Mayor knew precisely what she was doing, she just didn’t care. None of the libs in SLO seem to care either. Why? Because the Mayor checks off at least 2 diversity boxes and by god, if you are anyone other than a straight, white, male, you can do no wrong. Any suggestion otherwise is simply “patriarchy” or “misogyny.”
That’s right! What chance have “straight, white males” ever had in this world?
Oh good grief ….what the hell difference does it matter where a guy puts it and with whom . To each their own. Why we identify people by orientation or race is plain dumb. Causes all kinds of troubles frankly.
Sure a lot of mansplaining going on here.
Well there is much to be concerned about unless your an idiot with your head In. The sand and ya think all the problems will go away. The trump administration sucks. My money went further under Biden for starters. And that’s only the beginning. How about this stupid war and cutting gov assistance to many. How a bout the ignorance of ignoring green energy . How about the mess in Washington with a historic building. Why does he play too much golf….should be in situation room 24 7. What ab out his cruel disgusting comments towards mi minorities and political opposition. No paper is large enough to list trumpian negatives and his terrible legacy. Shall I continue because there’s more🤩or are there too many stupid bonehead people in America to even bother. Not that Dems have issues too, yet pale in comparison. To this cult of fools.