Digital Wellness Home

At school, technology is one of many tools educators use to support learning. Our goal is to use technology purposefully—when it adds value to instruction, provides access, supports creativity or collaboration, or helps students demonstrate their learning.

Digital wellness also means making thoughtful decisions about when a non-digital experience may be more appropriate. Reading, writing, discussion, hands-on learning, movement, play, and face-to-face collaboration all remain important parts of the school day.

As a district, we are continuing to examine how technology is used across grade levels and how we can best support healthy, balanced, and age-appropriate experiences for students. Our Digital Wellness Committee will continue to study current research, gather feedback from students, families, and educators, and share resources and recommendations with the school community.

Building Healthy Technology Habits Together

Technology is part of how children learn, create, play, and connect. Digital wellness is not simply about limiting screen time—it is about helping children make healthy, safe, and purposeful choices with technology.

Start With Curiosity

Ask your child about the games, apps, videos, and digital tools they use. Let them show you what they enjoy and talk about what can sometimes feel frustrating, distracting, or hard to stop.

Pause • Ask • Check

Help children build the habit of thinking before, during, and after using technology:

Pause — Do I need technology right now?
Ask — What am I trying to do, and is this the best tool?
Check — How is this affecting my attention, relationships, safety, or well-being?

Create Healthy Boundaries

Talk together about when and where devices fit into your family's day. Consider meals, homework, bedtime, family time, and time with friends. Explain what each boundary is protecting—such as sleep, attention, relationships, or learning.

Protect Privacy & Practice Kindness

Talk regularly about what information should remain private and remind children that photos, messages, and posts can travel beyond their intended audience.

Help children think about how they treat others online and what to do if they experience pressure, exclusion, or unkind behavior.

Make It Safe to Ask for Help

Let your child know they can come to you when something online feels uncomfortable or goes wrong—even if they made a mistake.

Listen first, thank them for telling you, and work together to decide what to do next.

Make Room for Life Beyond the Screen

Protect time for sleep, movement, reading, hobbies, outdoor activities, conversation, creativity, and simply being together.

Children also benefit from moments when they are not constantly entertained. We do not need to fill every pause.

Model the Habits We Want to See

Children notice how adults use technology too. Putting phones away during conversations, turning off unnecessary notifications, or creating device-free times can be powerful examples.

Start small. One conversation, one routine, or one change can help your family build healthier technology habits together.

• “I know that social media is important to you. I wanted to check in about it; how do you think things are going with your social media use?”
• “What accounts do you follow that are authentic and supportive, and which ones seem like the creators are competing for attention? How can you tell the difference?”
• “What is the funniest, coolest, or most interesting thing you saw online this week?”
• “Has there been content in your feed that made you feel uncomfortable?”
• “One aspect of social media use that is really important is protecting our privacy. Have you looked at the privacy settings on all of your accounts?”
• “As you probably know, your social media platforms track your search and viewing patterns. They try to get to know you, and an algorithm (a set of rules that rank content across the platform) decides what to put in your feed. How is the algorithm working for you at this point? Is there content you don’t want to see?”
• “I’d like us to talk about our family’s approach for setting some boundaries around technology and media use. I was thinking that this is something we could work on together as I’d like to include your input in these decisions.”

• Changes in behavior: physically, emotionally, socially and functionally
• Lower grades due to overuse of technology
• Being emotionally withdrawn
• Avoiding offline social connections
• Important activities like sleep and exercise are being crowded out
• Using technology and digital media as the primary way to calm emotions

Clinicians and providers may use evidence-based tool tools to identify problematic internet and digital media use including:

For adolescents ages 11 and older:

• Quick screener as part of general adolescent health, can be followed by PRIUSS-18 if positive screen – Problematic and Risky Internet Use Screening Scale Brief (PRIUSS 3)
• Full assessment for problematic Internet/technology use – Problematic and Risky Internet Use Screening Scale Brief (PRIUSS-18)

For kids ages 11 and younger:

• Problematic Media Use Assessment (completed by parent)