Bucks County Commissioners unanimously voted to offer a $2,000 incentive to any school district in Bucks County that adopts a “bell-to-bell” cellphone ban policy. This policy would force students to give up access to their phones throughout the length of the school day, including lunch and breaks between classes.
This decision came less than 24 hours after the United States Department of Health issued an official Surgeon General’s Warning about the negative effects of excessive screen use on children.
Dr. David C. Damsker, the county department of health director, has been monitoring the link between screen-time and mental health within our community.
“While it’s not a bacteria or a virus, the contagiousness of social media and cellphone use is certainly an epidemic,” Damsker said. “Most concerning to me are the things our children are trading away for this addiction. A good night’s sleep, physical activity, face-to-face connections and the ability to have unstructured time. It’s very scary.”
Leaders from PA Unplugged, a local grassroots state coalition focused on connecting kids to the real world, gave a presentation to the commissioners during Thursday’s meeting. Using statistics from the 2025 Pennsylvania Youth Survey, PA Unplugged broke down screen time in Bucks County schools. They found that 23% of students spend more than four hours a day on social media during school days and that seven in 10 kids navigate the internet unsupervised.
The recent data suggested one in five students did not report good mental health in the past month, with 29.3% feeling depressed or sad most days within the past year. The most striking was that 11.7% of students seriously considered attempting suicide, 8.4% made a suicide plan, and 3.6% (almost 700 students) attempted suicide. These numbers have been consistently rising with the growth of social media and cellphone usage.
Kirstin McGowan, co-leader of PA Unplugged, directly called out schools in a call to action.
“You now have district level PAYS (Pennsylvania Youth Survey) data. Use it,” said McGowan. “Every district in Bucks County participated this year which means you have a road map. The data tells you exactly where your students are struggling and what protective factors need strengthening. I am asking you specifically to implement clear, enforced, phone-free school day policies. The research is consistent. Schools that do (implement phone-free bans) see better focus, less bullying, and stronger peer relationships.”
Bob Harvie, vice chairman of Bucks County Commissioners, empathized with PA Unplugged and the struggle that today’s children face with cellphone addictions.
“This is the first generation of parents that’s had to go through this,” said Harvie. “This age of parenting is incredibly difficult for a lot of reasons but especially for this. There is no reference point. There is no benchmark here.”
