EMPOWERING DIGITAL WELLNESS FOR KIDS | October 2025

Dear Friend of the Lab,

As we settle into fall routines and navigate an ever-evolving digital landscape, we’re excited to share our newly updated Family Digital Wellness Guide—a comprehensive, evidence-based resource designed to help families raise healthy, smart, and kind kids in the age of social media and AI.

This year, we’ve reorganized the Guide around our 5 M’s of Digital Wellness framework: Model, Mentor, Monitor, Mastery, and Meaning. This structure makes it easier than ever to find actionable strategies tailored to your family’s needs, whether you’re setting boundaries for a curious toddler, helping a middle schooler navigate social media, or supporting your teen’s relationship with AI.

We’ve also incorporated the latest research on AI in learning, school cell phone policies, and the critical role of self-regulation in building focus and wellbeing. (Our updated Spanish version will be available soon. Current version can be found here.)

Read on for more helpful resources from the Lab—including conversations with leading clinicians, research insights, and upcoming events where we’re advancing the conversation on digital wellness. If you know someone who might benefit from these insights, please share this newsletter and encourage them to subscribe.

Toward a healthy digital future,

Cori Stott
Executive Director
The Digital Wellness Lab

Our 2025-26 Student Advisory Council brings together 16 outstanding high school students from across the U.S., along with five returning student mentors. Now in its fourth year, our Council offers teens a unique opportunity to positively impact the future of media and technology.

This week, we had a fantastic first meeting. We anticipate deep learning and opportunities to amplify the Council students’ voices through our research and outreach work throughout the year.

There’s still time to register for the Continuing Medical Education (CME) virtual learning event on November 12, led collaboratively by the Lab and our colleagues at the Clinic for Interactive Media and Internet Disorders (CIMAID). This credit-bearing half-day session offers practical strategies for addressing Problematic Interactive Media Use (PIMU) in clinical and educational settings.

Helpful Resources

Conversations with Clinicians

Keneisha Sinclair-McBride, PhD shares her experience in breaking down communication barriers by translating complex academic information into accessible language to empower families and schools in navigating online spaces.

Read More →

Fellow Travelers

Dr. Ying Xu, Assistant Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, shares her research on designing technologies that promote language and literacy development, and wellbeing for children and families.

Read More →

Family Guide to Going Back to School with Technology

Our updated resource offers practical strategies based on the latest research to help children and teens build healthy digital habits—covering topics including AI in learning, school cell phone policies, and the importance of self-regulation for focus and wellbeing.

Read More →

Leveraging Interactive Media to Foster SEL for Youth

This article offers recommendations for how digital platforms can embed social-emotional learning into the experiences teens already love, such as social media, gaming, and streaming.

Read More →

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

How Video Games Are Shaping a Generation of Boys, for Better and Worse New York Times

The Search for Digital Wellness in the Screentime Era Bloomberg Businessweek

This counterintuitive advice about kids and phones makes a lot of sense Vox

Cell Phone Bans in Schools: What Parents Need to Know University of Rochester Medical Center

How Can Parents Promote Safe and Smart Screen Use? Boston Children’s Hospital Magazine

Maine parents say getting an old school landline for kids is revolutionary Maine Public

From Fellow Travelers

The Keys: A Guide to Digital Safety Snapchat

What Congress Should Know About the Boys on Discord Next Gen Men

Overconnected Kids: Digital Stress, Addiction-Like Behaviors & AI’s Powerful Grip Aura

Family Support for LGBTQ+ and Young People FOSI & Born This Way Foundation

US Media Literacy Week NAMLE

Oops!…AI Did It Again Young Futures 

The Lab in Action

October is a busy month for the Lab team sharing our research and insights with audiences across the country and around the globe:

Dr. Michael Rich delivered the keynote at the “Schools in the Age of Digital Distraction” summit in Greenfield, MA, speaking with educators and policymakers about raising healthy, smart, and kind humans in the age of social media and AI.

Cori Stott joined Catherine Teitelbaum from Amazon Kids for a fireside chat at the Mother of AI Summit in Fort Lauderdale, exploring how research and lessons from past tech shifts can help families confidently navigate the opportunities and challenges of the AI era.

Dr. David Bickham, Dr. Michael Rich, and Hannah Chidekel presented findings from our belonging in online spaces study at the Bridges to Belonging Symposium in Toronto.

Dr. Zhiying (Zoey) Yue is collaborating with the Prosocial Design Network, Roblox, and other researchers to explore and imagine how prosocial design can build connection and community in social gaming.

Brinleigh Murphy-Reuter will share progress from our Harvard-Radcliffe Institute convening on developing AI guidelines for early childhood at the Connected Learning Summit in Cambridge, MA at the end of the month.