Digital Wellness Project is a multi-disciplinary initiative focused on shaping policy, advancing education, and providing resources to support healthier digital media use among youth. We collaborate with educators, caregivers, healthcare professionals, and human service sectors to promote a harm-reduction approach to technology. We offer tools, courses, and programs that foster balanced engagement in an increasingly connected world.

Approach

Digital Wellness Project addresses a broad range of digital media, including social media platforms, artificial intelligence tools, video games, online pornography, streaming services, and other emerging technologies, all within the context of how they impact youth development, safety, mental health, and well-being.

At Digital Wellness Project, the work is grounded in research and shaped by evidence-based practices. Every program, course, and resource developed is informed by findings in tech ethics, psychology, human-computer interaction, education, and pediatrics. This multidisciplinary approach enriches our perspective, ensuring that ethical, developmental, cognitive, and health considerations are thoughtfully balanced when addressing the challenges and opportunities of digital life.

To address the needs of youth within the current digital context, it is imperative to consider their lived experiences and perspectives, as they often engage with technology more frequently and fluently than adults. The research is clear: young people benefit most not from restrictions, but when they are recognized as experts of their own digital experiences, supported by adults who offer guidance and a strong support system.

Digital Wellness Project is not about fear. It is about equipping the frontline—those directly supporting youth—with the knowledge and tools they need to make informed choices in a digital world.

Leah Jacobs, Founder

Leah Jacobs, MS, LMHC, is a licensed mental health counselor who spent several years working closely with youth and families in clinical settings. Throughout her time practicing, she observed a growing trend: many of the challenges clients faced were increasingly tied to digital media use. These experiences sparked a deeper curiosity and concern about the broader impact of technology on mental health and well-being.

Driven by what Leah witnessed on the frontlines, she shifted her focus from micro-level therapeutic work to macro-level change. Today, Leah’s work centers on digital health and wellness through the lenses of policy advocacy, program design, and educational course development. Her goal is to equip caregivers, educators, and health and human service institutions with the tools they need to foster healthier digital environments for young people.

  • "We have to be flexible enough to evolve with the technology but choose how to use it right. Fire was a great discovery to cook our food, but we had to learn it could hurt and kill as well."

    Dr. Michael Rich, Pediatrician, Harvard Medical School

  • "Technology is both helpful and harmful, exhausting and energizing, connecting and dividing."

    Center for Digital Thriving

  • “Human relationships are rich and they're messy and they're demanding. And we clean them up with technology. And when we do, one of the things that can happen is that we sacrifice conversation for mere connection.”

    Dr. Sherry Turkle, TED, 2012, Connected, but Alone?

  • “We don't want to be in a moral panic because kids are staring at smartphones. We need to be asking, what’s happening when they’re staring at their smartphone in terms of their cognitive, social, and emotional development? As with most things, it will probably be a mix of positive and negative. Going forward with our eyes open, how can we enhance the positive and mitigate the negative?”

    Dr. Michael Rich, Pediatrician, Harvard Medical School