California students push 'digital wellness' curriculum
Student advocates in California backed Assembly Bill 2071, a proposal to require schools to teach healthy social‑media use in health classes rather than relying solely on device bans. The push frames digital wellness as curricular instruction in addition to any device policies. (edsource.org)
California students are backing a bill that would make “digital wellness” part of health class, not just phone rules on campus. (edsource.org) Assembly Bill 2071 was introduced on February 18, 2026 by Assemblymember Josh Hoover, a Republican from Folsom, and the Assembly Education Committee analyzed it on April 8. The bill would require school systems that already offer middle or high school health classes to include digital wellness instruction. (assembly.ca.gov) The proposal defines digital wellness as using technology in ways that support physical health, mental health, social connection and quality of life while limiting harm. The sample topics include excessive screen time, healthy habits, cyberbullying, privacy, misleading content, artificial intelligence-generated material and school or community support resources. (assembly.ca.gov) If the bill passes, the California Department of Education would have until January 1, 2028 to produce a statewide plan for expanding this instruction. That plan would cover age-appropriate curriculum, ways to keep lessons current as technology changes, family education and methods to assess whether programs work. (assembly.ca.gov) The push comes as California is already moving to restrict phones during the school day. Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 3216, the Phone-Free School Act, on September 23, 2024, requiring school districts, charter schools and county offices of education to adopt policies limiting or prohibiting smartphone use by July 1, 2026. (gov.ca.gov) Student backers told EdSource those campus bans only address part of the problem because students still spend hours on social platforms and artificial intelligence tools outside school. EdSource reported that Orange County student Elise Choi, a junior at the Orange County School of the Arts and a member of GENup, helped write the bill after taking a break from social media. (edsource.org) The bill also lands after California added media literacy and artificial intelligence literacy to its curriculum framework process in 2024. Assembly Bill 2876, signed on September 29, 2024, directed the Instructional Quality Commission to consider those topics in future curriculum revisions and instructional materials. (theaicounsel.net) Outside the school system, state officials have also pushed platform warnings. Attorney General Rob Bonta and Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan introduced Assembly Bill 56 on December 9, 2024 to require social media warning labels, saying adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of poor mental health outcomes. (oag.ca.gov) Supporters of Assembly Bill 2071 say that makes classroom instruction the missing piece between device bans and platform regulation. EdSource reported the bill had already cleared a committee hearing by April 9 and was expected to keep moving through the Legislature with bipartisan support. (edsource.org)
