What Is The Digital Wellness Curriculum?
Today’s youth are spending more time on screens and on social media than ever before: a 2022 survey by Common Sense Media found that daily screen use among tweens aged 8-12 averaged about 5.5 hours, while daily screen use among teens aged 13-18 averaged about a whopping 8.5 hours. And though many young people are digitally savvy, they are not digitally literate. Too few young people have the vocabulary to identify harmful content, to understand how to rethink hate and be an Upstander to online bullying, and to feel confident in themselves and their identities as they navigate social media. We believe that that’s a problem–because without this education, youth can fall prey to poor digital behavior or to harassing, harmful content that targets them. And that’s especially true for historically vulnerable, underserved communities. As experts have pointed out, the post-pandemic increase in technology use was highest among children of color and children from low-income families. And yet, these youth are the least able to access the internet education they need.
ReThink Citizens is changing that, via the preventative ReThink Digital Wellness Curriculum.
This anti-hate and digital literacy curriculum offers budding digital citizens the opportunity to explore the fundamentals of online safety and responsible digital citizenship. Amongst many topics, learners (i) explore what cyberbullying is, and how to confront it; (ii) learn how to navigate specific digital environments, like gaming; and (iii) reflect on the curated nature of the digital world–and how crucial it is to retain one’s authenticity online. Importantly, the curriculum is tailored to different grade levels; in fact, we actually offer three curricula, for (i) elementary-aged, (ii) middle school-aged, and (iii) high school-aged learners. Each curriculum includes 18 lessons of content, and comes with an easy-to-digest facilitator guide, with step-by-step instruction to deliver each lesson; PowerPoint material for each lesson; and a student workbook, where students can complete lesson-specific exercises and activities.
How We Work With Partners
ReThink Citizens is committed to making ReThink’s offerings, including the ReThink Digital Wellness Curriculum, available to historically underserved communities for free. We collaborate with local community organizations and educational institutions that serve children of color, LGBTQIA+ youth, low-income youth, youth in rural communities, and/or otherwise under-resourced youth.
We believe in collaborative partnerships, working alongside our partners to best serve their communities. We have collaborated with partners to develop unique content to serve the youth that they work with. And, we give partners the agency to implement the curriculum in the way that they like. We know that you know your context best.
We also know that you’re busy…and familiarizing yourself with a new curriculum can be a challenge. That’s why we offer free pedagogical trainings for facilitators. Trainings introduce the curriculum, explore key pedagogical tips and tricks, and help facilitators develop a “delivery game plan.” When you request the curriculum, be sure to request our training, too!
Request The Curriculum For Your Community Today
If you believe that your community would benefit from access to the Digital Wellness Curriculum, get in touch with us today. We’d love to bring this educational resource to the youth that you serve.