Digital Wellness for the School District of Philadelphia

Challenge

Helping young people navigate digital life takes more than rules about phones. Students need opportunities to understand how their digital experiences connect to well-being, while the adults who support them need practical ways to bring digital wellness into school and family life. Schools can strengthen this work by teaching students the skills they need to develop meaningful, balanced, and healthy digital habits.

EDC worked with the School District of Philadelphia to develop a comprehensive digital wellness toolkit for K–12 students, staff, and families. The toolkit helps students build healthy digital habits while equipping educators and families to support young people as they navigate digital environments—including by creating intentional time for meaningful offline interactions. Grounded in a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) framework, the work connected digital wellness with the district’s broader efforts to support student well-being.

Key Activities

Working with the district, EDC developed tools, guides, and worksheets that addressed digital wellness across school and home settings. The toolkit includes dedicated sections for students, staff, and families, bringing these audiences into a shared approach to supporting healthy technology use. Materials are organized within an MTSS framework to connect digital wellness with existing student supports.

The work also included the creation of a companion family guide and developmentally appropriate strategies and activities addressing mood tracking, digital identity and footprints, self-esteem, and media literacy—including how to distinguish authentic information from curated or misleading content. These resources were designed to help students make informed choices and help adults connect digital experiences with mental health and well-being.

Impact

The project aimed to give students, educators, staff, and families practical resources for understanding and supporting digital wellness. By connecting tools for young people with guidance for the adults around them, the work was designed to reinforce healthy, informed technology use across school and home. Its MTSS foundation offered a way to embed digital wellness within broader student well-being supports rather than address it only through device restrictions.