MetroWest Digital Wellness Collaborative

Challenge

In MetroWest Massachusetts and nationwide, families, educators, and policymakers share a growing concern about the potential negative impacts of digital media and technology tools—including artificial intelligence (AI)—on children and adolescents’ well-being, including their mental health, sleep habits, relationships, and academic outcomes. Parents, educators, and young people all want to learn how to balance the potential benefits of interactive media, smart phones, and tools such as AI with the harms that can accompany them to help youth achieve digital wellness.

With funding from the MetroWest Health Foundation, EDC is facilitating the MetroWest Digital Wellness Collaborative (Collaborative). The Collaborative is engaging groups of youth, parents, staff from schools and location organizations, and community members in examining challenges and identifying innovative opportunities related to young people’s use of digital media.

Key Activities

Our project team is carrying out the following activities:

• Convene the Collaborative and its steering committee
• Conduct a regional digital wellness assessment
• Guide school districts in using multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) to promote digital wellness
• Hold a MetroWest digital wellness innovation workshop
• Develop, pilot-test, and apply innovative strategies to promote youth’s digital wellness

Impact

The Collaborative aims to:

• Enhance digital wellness and reduce harms associated with digital media and technology use among children and young people in MetroWest Massachusetts
• Foster a sustained collaborative effort to promote digital wellness through continued implementation of community-driven digital wellness strategies