Greater Nashua

ATLANTA (AP) — Florida was the first state to pass a law regulating the use of cellphones in schools in 2023. Just two years later, half of all states have laws in place, with more likely to act soon. Bills have sprinted through legislatures this year in states as varied as New York and Oklahoma, reflecting a broad consensus that phones are bad for kids. Connecticut state Rep. Jennifer Leeper, a Democrat and co-chair of the General Assembly's Education Committee, on May 13 called phones "a cancer on our kids" that are "driving isolation, loneliness, decreasing attention and having major impacts both on social-emotional well-being but also learning." Republicans express similar sentiments. "This is a not just an academic bill," Republican Rep. Scott Hilton said after Georgia's bill, which only bans phones in grades K-8, passed in March. "This is a mental health bill. It's ...