EMPOWERING DIGITAL WELLNESS FOR KIDS | May 2024

Greetings Friend of the Lab,

For most young people today, navigating screens and interactive media is a key part of their daily lives. Because of this, we cannot effectively tackle the mental health challenges facing children, teens, and young adults without addressing the profound impacts — both positive and negative — of their physical-digital ecosystem on their wellbeing.

This is why our research is focused on identifying opportunities to mitigate or eliminate harms and to elevate positive experiences for short- and long-term mental, emotional, and social health outcomes in today’s digitally saturated world. And, because information is power, we translate our findings into actionable insights to share with tech decision makers to encourage the design of healthy interactive media experiences for youth, and with clinicians to support their ability to help young people and their families build and maintain healthy digital behaviors.

Whether you’re a technologist or clinician, parent or educator, policy-maker or influencer, we urge you to join us in taking part in Mental Health Month by:

LEARNING how living in today’s physical-digital world affects youth mental health.

ACTING by modeling healthy behaviors and supporting the young people in your life in developing strategies to manage difficult emotions and challenging situations, both online and off.

ADVOCATING for equitable access to mental health prevention and intervention for all children, teens, and young adults.

A good place to start is our 2023-24 Family Digital Wellness Guide and other evidence-based resources on our website. 

And if you believe your child is experiencing problematic interactive media use (PIMU) that is impacting their mental health, you can learn more and seek help at our Clinic for Interactive Media and Internet Disorders (CIMAID).

All our best,

Cori Stott
Executive Director
The Digital Wellness Lab

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.

Resources for Parents & Caregivers 

TEEN VOICES

Bansi shares her POV on the opportunities and challenges with technology, and how this impacts youth mental health

Read Now >

ARTICLE

Are cell phone bans in schools the answer?

Go to Article >

We’re Hiring!

If you or someone you know is an early career researcher with a fire to make a make a positive impact on young people's lives, our industry-leading research team is looking for a Clinical Research Specialist and help us shape the future of digital wellness for youth.

The Lab in the News

Why I Plan To Let My Kids Get Bored This Summer Parents 

The 1 Simple Thing You Can Do To Cut Down On Your Teen’s Phone Use HuffPost

Summer Unplugged: Navigating screen time and finding balance for kids Harvard EdCast

What’s Happening in May

This month, we’ll be taking part in events in the U.S. and around the world to support young people’s mental, social, and emotional health:

Teen members of the Lab’s 2023-2024 Student Advisory Council will take part in their culminating panel discussion, sharing their perspectives on digital wellness with tech and media industry leaders from companies large and small, including Pinterest, Snap, Modulate, and Blue Fever and with foundations and advocacy organizations including NAMLE and Archewell.

Kick-off meeting of the newly formed Cross-Harvard Coalition for Youth & Interactive Media. This initiative will facilitate information sharing, research collaboration, and collective amplification of efforts among youth in media groups across the Harvard University ecosystem.

The Lab’s founder and director Dr. Michael Rich will present at the Sync Summit in Saudi Arabia, with the Lab’s work featuring prominently in the discussions about how to exist in a positive, healthy relationship with technology every day.

The Lab will join Inspired Internet Pledge signatories and advisors in Washington D.C. for a one-day summit hosted by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and Pinterest.

The Lab’s Executive Director Cori Stott will be in Geneva for the United Nations’ AI for Good Summit, a global gathering to discuss AI and the next generation.

If you have friends, family, and colleagues who could benefit from this newsletter, please pass it on and encourage them to sign up to receive it themselves. Thank you!