When 18 year old Tatum Oakley packed her bags for summer camp, she knew that she would be expected to check in her phone. But what she didn’t expect was how much she would learn and grow in her summer of unplugging. At START, we often hear from families who are overwhelmed by helping our teens find balance in their social media lives, so our ears perked up when Tatum shared a powerful secret: one of the best ways to help your teens find digital balance is to offer them rich offline experiences.
“Five breakdowns and four fruit snack packs into the morning, I find myself checking out and looking for something to numb the frustration that I feel building from the inside out. This is about the time I grab my phone and get on Instagram. Immediately my feed is flooded with filtered squares that deliver a message before I even read the caption…” START parent Cierra Karson shares five fresh ideas on how to handle social media fatigue as a young parent.
Teachers like Kathryn Sanfle are on the front lines of the mental health epidemic, seeing some of the harshest sides of our kids’ digital reality—and at START, we think she’s spot on: how powerful would it be if parents and teachers could speak the same language when it comes to adopting healthy screen habits? That’s why we’re here. This fall, based on requests from multiple school administrators, START is releasing a program specifically for teachers and administrators…