Prevention - Promote healthy and safe social media use for youth and families.
The SMRC will develop free online courses and training modules to promote healthy and safe social media use for youth and families that will be provided to schools at no cost and freely available here for NJ families, organizations, and communities. Content will be evolving along with our research, the nature of social media, industry regulations, and State policy.
We will be working in this first year to develop a series of online courses and training modules tailored to NJ youth, parents/caregivers, schools, and communities. Our content will vary in format and delivery to ensure broad reach that meets the needs of NJ schools and families, developed with our strategic partners. Courses and trainings will be educational, informative, interactive, engaging, and solution-oriented to promote safe social media use. These activities will form the foundation for a Digital Wellbeing Curriculum that can be readily packaged, integrated, and systematically evaluated in NJ schools.
What will these courses/trainings focus on?
Informed by research, especially NJ-specific findings, content for both online courses and training modules will be organized to include the following:
- Online safety (e.g., privacy protection)
- Self-awareness and regulation (e.g., recognize how/when social media affects mood)
- Healthy habits (e.g., sleep, physical activity, screen time)
- Interpersonal relationships (e.g., bullying)
- Media literacy (e.g., media tricks and algorithms, AI)
What are the formats? There will be “Quick Tips” (60 seconds) and brief (5-10 minutes) online courses. “Quick Tips” courses will be key takeaways and practical tips for healthy social media use serving as digestible tools for busy and distracted youth and families, which you can also find on our social media platforms. Brief courses will go into more depth, providing a summary of social media research on core content areas and actionable steps to promote healthy social media use. These courses can readily be integrated into school lessons, organizational websites, and can be viewed independently or in tandem with other courses. We also will have several online training modules that are longer (20-30 minutes), interactive learning experiences. These will be guided by evidence-based principles effective in engaging youth in behavior change, online trainings will include education, interactive activities, and a personalized action plan.
What’s next? First, we plan to develop a suite of online courses/programs to build knowledge and skills that promote digital wellbeing and responsible social media engagement, health and mental health, as well as online safety. Brief, online programs will be educational, interactive, and self-guided to serve as scalable programs that help youth engage in evidence-based practices to promote online safety and healthy social media use. They can be stand-alone programs or embedded within a broader digital wellbeing curriculum.
Second, parent-focused courses and trainings will be developed to help parents gain digital media literacy skills, as well as reduce harmful phone/social media behaviors that shape youth development, social media use, and mental health. Primary schools and childcare centers will be further engaged to promote access to resources to ensure parents are equipped with the skills to help youth and families adopt healthy social media practices early in development. Early promotion of healthy digital behaviors is critical for prevention of harmful/addictive social media use and promotion of mental health and wellbeing.
Third, we aim to promote in-person and offline supports. We realize the importance of fostering safe and joyful offline spaces and in-person activities. In other words, the prevention of harmful/addictive use and promotion of healthy digital lives cannot be based solely upon creating better digital spaces and routines. It requires also understanding the third spaces teens seek and making these safely and readily available for teens to hang out with each other.
Check out our research-informed strategies and video resource library.