College leaders and health experts are treating excessive phone use as a student‑health issue, urging time‑blocking, device boundaries and new campus practices to protect sleep and attention. Administrators cite research showing high daily nonacademic phone use among students and growing links to anxiety, loneliness and academic decline. New reports from Youth Futures and partners find many teens use generative AI for mental‑health support; a subgroup—about 9%—are “emotionally entangled” users who turn to AI for emotional connection. The findings complicate campus mental‑health strategies: institutions must balance AI’s tutoring and support benefits against risks to privacy, learning, and vulnerable users.