The calendar has turned over to January, so it must be New Year’s resolution season. Whether you’re cutting out soda, whittling down your to-be-read pile, or finally learning how to use Gemini, the new year is a perfect time to start fresh and set positive intentions for the months ahead.
Your students can make the most of resolution season, too. As the spring semester starts up, they can set their sights on what a healthier new year looks like for them personally. For many, that can include practicing healthier technology habits, both at school and at home.
Your classroom offers fertile soil for fostering intentional tech use, reducing tech’s emotional strain, and setting healthy boundaries – both now and throughout the school year. Use this occasion to build a solid foundation that helps students meaningfully evaluate technology’s role in their lives.
Both in schools and in general, technology use among young people continues to get mixed press. Parents, community members, and even some educators have raised red flags about excessive screen time in schools impacting student’s mental health and behavior.
To be clear: not all technology use in schools is inherently harmful to students. On the contrary, classroom technology transforms learning everyday.
With the rise of 1-to-1 learning environments post-pandemic, technology has helped increase access to learning, meet individual academic needs, and prepare students for a tech-rich workforce.
While concerns about negative mental health impacts are justified, technology use can actually help–rather than exclusively hamper–students’ mental health.
“Many digital tools and apps can positively impact student mental health, such as calming playlists, positive affirmations, brain breaks, and strategies for managing stress during the school day,” says Kristen Cann, an instructional technology coach in northern Illinois. “These resources are easily available on various platforms and can be geared towards the individual needs of each student, which provides them with healthy outlets to express themselves when needed.”
Students spend a significant part of their day in school, so a crucial portion of their technology use occurs in an educational environment. That makes classrooms an excellent setting for fostering balanced technology use, one day at a time.
Whether you’re planning direct instruction or want to develop habit-forming policies for your classroom, these three key principles can start your students on the path toward healthier screen habits:
In relationships of all kinds, boundaries are crucial to defining personal space, preserving individual autonomy, preventing burnout, and more.
Boundaries with technology use offer the same benefits, as well as an opportunity for young minds to break digital dependency and sharpen their own interpersonal skills.
At a fundamental level, intentional screen breaks are a great place to start. Breaks can be routine (at the same time or on the same day each week) or integrated into unplugged activities and projects.
Screen breaks may be challenging for some students at first. But like training a muscle, repetition can help make this meaningful practice both productive and restorative.
Technology is transformative, but students can sharpen their collaboration and interpersonal skills without a 13.3” screen in front of them at all times.
Brian Krause, Instructional Technology Coach (northern Illinois)
Much like a diet, the keystone to healthy technology use lies with intention. Without purposeful intentions, technology use quickly becomes detrimental to productivity and mental health.
Intentionality also offers a check on unhealthy habits, ensuring students are persistently in the right mindset to ward off digital reliance and tech-fueled emotional deregulation.
Self-assessment helps students evaluate why, when, and how frequently they rely on technology, particularly at school. Questions like these can foster students’ critical thinking about their personal technology use:
These questions also offer a foundation for implementing technology use reduction strategies, including screen breaks, monotasking, and (at home) family tech agreements.
On a day-to-day basis, educators can also model intentional tech use by developing activities that require no screens, emphasizing person-to-person collaboration, and changing up routines that may otherwise call for screens.
When applied with purpose, tech tools can build confidence, reduce anxiety, and foster a sense of ownership. This gives students the opportunity to build a solid foundation, helping them develop healthy habits that can support their well-being into adulthood.
Kristen Cann, Instructional Technology Coach (northern Illinois)
Learning of all kinds continues outside the classroom, especially when it comes to developing healthy habits.
As students’ first teachers, families can play an important role in making healthy technology use habits stick.
Our parents’ guide to fostering digital balance offers a practical entry point to the topic, with insights on how social media, AI, and digital platforms influence behavior.
This free toolkit also includes actionable steps for starting conversations with children about their digital habits – perfect for parent-teacher conferences or your next parent education night.
This collaboration between home and school creates a unified approach that helps children build a positive and safe relationship with technology.
Stacie White, Instructional Technology Coach (southern Illinois)
Digital wellness isn’t just a one-time resolution. It’s a year-round effort that the LTC supports, ensuring school leaders and families are equipped to make technology use both healthy and enriching.
Once you’re ready to build on the basics, explore more of our curated digital resources for district leaders and educators or reach out to our team for personalized digital wellness implementation support.
Sam leads and supports the execution and growth of LTC services through the development and creation of innovative, impactful, and timely digital content.
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