EMPOWERING DIGITAL WELLNESS FOR KIDS | January 2024

Greetings Friend of the Lab,

Last year was transformative for the Digital Wellness Lab on many levels. Some highlights:

• We welcomed talented new team members, increasing our capacity to develop an evidence base for digital wellness, as we believe science — rather than emotion — should be the basis for decisions about the design and use of interactive tech and media for youth.
• We met with members of Congress and the U.S. Surgeon General, published over a dozen evidence-backed reports and papers, and presented on four continents about how young people are using digital media and the effects of this use on their health and development.
• Our Student Advisory Council doubled in size, ensuring that we can continue to hear directly from a diverse group of young people from across the United States about their experiences with the digital ecosystem and mental wellbeing. 
• Our Inspired Internet Pledge officially launched with fifteen early signatories and advisors committing to work together to build a healthier internet. 

As we start the new year, we’re doubling down on the core of our work: innovative research. In the first quarter, we’ll release:

• Two new Pulse Surveys on Artificial Intelligence and Digital Gaming
• A new research brief covering Online Advocacy
• A series of industry recommendations
• A comprehensive white paper outlining what digital wellness looks like at every age and developmental stage, with the input of 100 experts in tech, policy, and education. 

In addition, you’ll see us leading youth mental health panel discussions during the World Economic Forum in Davos; presenting at SXSW in Austin about online civility; participating at the First Annual Common Sense Summit in San Francisco; leading Inspired Internet Pledge workshops at the Sync Summit in Saudi Arabia; presenting about our research at the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine in Chicago; and so much more!

What else would you like to see from us in 2024? Please feel free to email me with your thoughts.

Happy New Year!

Cori Stott
Executive Director
The Digital Wellness Lab

New book release!

The Lab’s founder and director, Dr. Michael Rich, is releasing his new book on February 6, 2024 — The Mediatrician’s Guide: A Joyful Approach to Raising Healthy, Smart, Kind Kids in a Screen-Saturated World. 

Known as The Mediatrician, Dr. Rich has spent his 30+ year career researching the effects of screens and media on young people and helping families navigate raising healthy kids in the digital age.

The Mediatrician’s Guide offers clinically tested, practical strategies for parents looking for answers on how children’s media use can affect their physical, mental and social health.

We believe that by following the science, we can create an empathetic and respectful world in which our kids can grow up healthy, smart, and kind.

The Lab in the News

Pew: Many teens use social media “almost constantly”  Axios

How Much Screen Time Is Too Much For Adults?  Health.com

Creating safer online spaces for children, teens and everyone  Connecticut Public

Harvard Pediatric Professor Discusses Managing Screen Time & Cyberbullying This Year  Little Things

Illinois becoming first state to legislate minor social media content  The Southern Illinoisan

Making Resolutions with Chasing Life Sanjay Gupta’s Chasing Life Podcast

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