RFK Jr pushes for cell phone bans in schools, citing poor performance, students' mental health

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has said that children should not be using cell phones in schools, citing the health impacts of cell phones as well as the success of state laws that have banned cell phones in their schools.

"Cell phones also produce electric, magnetic radiation, which has been shown to damage, to do neurological damage to kids when it's around them all day, and to and to cause cellular damage and even cancer," Kennedy told Fox and Friends during a segment.

"Cell phone use and social media use on the cell phone has been directly connected with depression, with poor performance in schools, with suicidal ideation, with substance abuse. And you know ... other countries that have done this, the states that are doing this have found that it is a much healthier environment when kids are not using cell phones in schools. And the teachers loved it."

Kennedy also spoke about going to Virginia and visiting a school with Governor Glenn Youngkin and saying that the schools that have implemented the ban are doing better.

Multiple studies have shown the negative mental health impacts of excessive cell phone usage on teens. Additionally, the majority of Americans, seven in 10, support the ban on cell phone use in schools, according to a survey conducted by Talker Research the New York Post reported.

78 percent of those who took the survey said the biggest reason they support the ban is the impact cell phone use has on education in school. The biggest reason, however, that some did not support the ban is that they wanted to be able to reach their child at any time, with 58 percent of respondents sharing this belief.

Nine states have implemented cell phone bans or restrictions in their public schools, including Arkansas, California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio, South Carolina, and Virginia according to NBC News. Although Kennedy has said that he is in support of getting cell phones out of schools, he still thinks that parents and teachers should be in charge of the decision-making.