Digital Wellness Lessons for Teens
Screen Time & Social Media · SEL
- Grades
- Grades 6–10
- Formats
- Google Slides, PDF, PowerPoint
- Pages
- 29
- Answer keys
- Included
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Help teens take charge of their screen time without lectures, shame or made-up statistics. In these digital wellness lessons, middle school and early high school students discover how apps are designed to hold their attention, audit their own screen time, connect screens and sleep, unpack social media comparison and self-esteem, and build a realistic personal digital wellness plan.
What's included
- Teacher guide with pacing for 6 lessons + a 7-day challenge, materials and differentiation (support, on level, challenge)
- Teacher notes: what research does and doesn't say, privacy and fairness tips, and how to handle sensitive topics
- Lesson 1: "Designed to Keep You Scrolling" article (infinite scroll, autoplay, notifications, variable rewards) + Design Detective mock app screen
- Lesson 2: The Mystery Reward Experiment (dice + probability), a 7-day screen time audit log, and "Jordan's Week" data analysis (totals, mean, percent)
- Lesson 3: "Screens and Sleep" article + Count Back Your Bedtime (elapsed time) and a personal sleep plan
- Lesson 4: "The Highlight Reel" article on social comparison and self-esteem + Behind the Post and Feed Check
- Lesson 5: Healthy vs. unhealthy online habits sort (16 cards) + recording sheet
- Settings & boundaries checklist with boundary scripts for friends
- Lesson 6: 12 real-life scenario discussion cards + response sheet
- 7-day digital detox challenge plan + daily tracker with end-of-week reflection
- My Digital Wellness Plan + 20-point rubric with student self-check
- 6 exit tickets
- Answer keys and a full scenario discussion guide
How to use it
Teach it as a 6-lesson unit (about 45 minutes each) with a 7-day challenge, or pull individual lessons for health, advisory, homeroom, school counseling groups or SEL time. Students never have to share personal screen time numbers: a sample data set lets everyone participate.
Skills practiced
Self-awarenessself-managementhealthy boundariesmedia literacygoal settingdata analysissleep planning
