Voices in the future of digital media

A chance to positively impact future media and technology

As a student advisor to the Lab, you will have the opportunity to learn about the latest research on digital media and technology — and its impact on youth — build your leadership skills, and contribute to important change initiatives. As a Digital Wellness Lab Student Advisory Council member, you will:

• Engage in comprehensive conversations about your experiences online;
• Learn about current research and discuss what it means to engage healthfully and mindfully with technology and media;
• Make recommendations and suggestions for ways applications and platforms can be designed for healthy experiences; and
• Have the opportunity to connect directly with technology and healthcare professionals and to build connections with teens across the country who are interested in similar topics.

If you choose, you can also author content about digital wellness for young people and/or participate in deep-dive conversations about how the digital ecosystem affects young people’s mental and physical health in positive and negative ways.

Commitment required

Students will be broken into 3-4 groups, based on time zone and time availability. All students who join the Digital Wellness Lab Student Advisory Council will be responsible for:

• Attending one 60-90 minute virtual, zoom-based meeting each month after school hours, October through May, plus one kickoff meeting in October;
• (Optional) Attending two large group educational panels with technology and healthcare professionals;
• Actively engaging in group conversations and the work of the Student Advisory Council both synchronously and asynchronously; and
• Participating in a final group panel with technology, healthcare, and research professionals.

We expect full participation to require approximately 20-25 hours of engagement over the year. To ensure you feel safe and supported, all meetings will be moderated by adult team members from the Digital Wellness Lab and Boston Children’s Hospital.

Areas of focus

Each month we will have a theme for our meetings. We ask you for your interest areas in the application form but, based on past experiences, we currently expect to talk at least a bit about:

• Ways to create a more kind, tolerant, and inclusive digital world
• Influences on our emotions and actions when we’re online
• Addressing authenticity and meaningful relationships online
• Harnessing control over what we consume through media on a daily basis
• Peer pressure and influencer culture
• Time spent with digital media and technologies and ways to set healthy boundaries
• Misinformation and disinformation campaigns
• Miscommunication and confrontations online
• Social exclusion and cyberbullying
• Using digital media and technologies for positive outcomes

Have a question? 

If you want more details or have a question, please don’t hesitate to email us at dwl@childrens.harvard.edu. We’re happy to answer questions from teachers and parents too!

The Digital Wellness Lab is located in Boston, MA. All meetings will be held via Zoom.