CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

House Resolution
No. 140

Introduced by Assembly Member Wicks

August 19, 2026

Relative to Children’s Get Offline and Get Outdoors Month.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


HR 140, as introduced, Wicks.
WHEREAS, Research shows that free play is an essential part of healthy childhood development because it improves children’s abilities to plan, organize, get along with others, regulate emotions, and cope with stress, and it aids in the development of language, math, and social skills; and
WHEREAS, Statistics show that the amount of free play time for children has been declining for decades due to tightly structured family and school schedules, fewer safe places to play, less societal willingness to let children spend time with other children unsupervised, and rising social media use and screen time; and
WHEREAS, The American Academy of Pediatrics links increases in depression and anxiety to a lack of unstructured playtime and recommends that children spend at least 60 minutes each day in open-ended play; and
WHEREAS, The widespread adoption of smartphones and social media platforms has happened faster than with any other communication technology in history and, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children are spending an average of seven hours each day on entertainment media, including smartphones, television, and other electronic devices; and
WHEREAS, Major depressive episodes, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide have become increasingly prevalent among American teenagers; and
WHEREAS, The impact of excessive screen time and social media use goes beyond mental health, impacting attention and behavior problems, academic performance, sleep, exercise, and in-person socialization; and
WHEREAS, Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist and author of The Anxious Generation, has asserted that a “great rewiring of childhood” has taken place in which play-based childhood has been replaced by phone-based childhood, and has shone a spotlight on the rapid decline of teen mental health in the years since smartphones and social media platforms became mainstream; and
WHEREAS, In May 2026, Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan of Virginia introduced bipartisan legislation, the Promoting Childhood Independence and Resilience Act of 2026, to boost childhood independence, encourage children to participate in reasonable independent activities, and promote outdoor in-person socialization without screens; and
WHEREAS, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has prioritized reducing the amount of time that children spend on screens, citing it as a key health improvement priority; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That the Assembly encourages children’s playtime free from screens, recognizes the importance of improving awareness of the impact that social media and excessive screen time has on child development, and supports complementary efforts at the state, national, and global levels to protect children’s offline and outdoors play; and be it further
Resolved, That the Assembly proclaims August 2026 as Children’s Get Offline and Get Outdoors Month to draw attention to the benefits of reduced screen time on children’s mental, behavioral, and physical health and to highlight the need for continued guardrails on social media and technology for all children; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.