Help students build the off-screen skills they need for their online lives.

When we talk about digital literacy and well-being, we’re usually referring to on-screen activities. That makes sense! But what we sometimes leave out of those discussions are the off-screen “soft” skills and strategies that kids need. These are essential to be mindful critical thinkers who can connect with others in person, make solid decisions about online behavior, discern valid information, and find media balance.

At this point in our screen-saturated lives, we’re often hyper-stimulated and overwhelmed with information. And that gives us fewer opportunities to develop what some experts call “cognitive patience.” The ability to not only take in information but also deeply engage with it, contemplate, reflect, and synthesize isn’t usually fostered by digital life. We have to develop these soft skills elsewhere and do it intentionally.

Cultivating these skills can definitely reinforce digital citizenship. For example, some kids pick up a device to cope with anxiety or boredom, so learning how to recognize and work with those feelings in other ways can help. Also, digital drama can often be defused by an in-person conversation: If those feel hard, it might help to reinforce some face-to-face social skills. By building off-screen strategies like these, we can help students round out their digital literacy and well-being practice.

For each topic area below, you’ll find some combination of lessons, activities, and lists of tools to help address these soft skills at the underbelly of digital citizenship.

Healthy Habits & Well-Being: Pausing Before Picking Up the Device

One of the biggest flip sides to digital citizenship is the off-screen element of Healthy Habits & Well-Being. Being able to resist the siren call of notifications, pick up a book instead of scroll, and funnel that need for belonging and affirmation into other activities are all ways we can find that balance. Being mindful of why we want to use a device, open a particular app, or continue to watch/scroll/play is essential to finding balance with off-screen activities—plus it’s a great life skill! If kids can use media and technology intentionally and know other ways to deal with uncomfortable feelings, it not only helps their digital citizenship skills, but also boosts their overall well-being.

Here are specific lessons, lists, and activities to address these skills:

• Building Healthy Tech Habits, Parts 1 and 2 (grades 6–8) and Tech Habit Challenge, Parts 1 and 2 (grades 6–8) explore the “why” of device use and challenge kids to reflect on the reasons they use media and tech.
• Mindfulness apps and sites offer accessible ways for kids to practice active listening, calm breathing, and being comfortable with stillness and quiet.
• Health and fitness apps and sites give students an outlet for restlessness and anxiety.
• Activity idea: We often pick up our devices to avoid anxiety or boredom, or as a default activity. So it’s helpful to know what those feelings feel like so we can identify them—and aim for alternative activities that will engage our brains in different ways that are more likely to increase well-being. Have students imagine a common time when they pick up their phones: What’s the feeling just before picking it up? What are three other things you can do in those moments? You can also pose a challenge to students to practice sitting quietly for three minutes, then five, etc., and write about what it feels like.

  Full lesson collections:

• All Healthy Habits lessons for grades K–8
• All Healthy Habits lessons for grades 9–12

Relationships & Communication: Finding Connection Face to Face

Once we were able to have school in person again, after the peak pandemic, teachers reported that kids’ social skills were suffering. It’s unclear how deep the impact of online school goes, but practicing maskless face-to-face interactions is helpful to students no matter the situation! Pandemic aside, because we all communicate via screens so often, the value of in-person communication can get lost. It’s worth examining the differences between the two and encouraging classroom interactions (with explicit guidance, if necessary) and a sense of in-person belonging….

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