In Tandem & Center for Digital Thriving Empower Youth in Digital Age

In Tandem is proud to announce our new collaboration with the Center for Digital Thriving, a Harvard-based research and innovation hub amplifying youths’ experiences with technology. 

This collaboration will equip youth to confidently navigate the digital world and leverage their shared experiences and voices to shape the tools that will define the future of tech. Together, we’re harnessing groundbreaking research to drive real, lasting change.

Organization spotlight

The Center for Digital Thriving, a pioneering research center at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, sparks conversations about technology that are both critical and optimistic.

Rooted in the renowned Project Zero, they work with youth and caring adults to turn academic insights into practical, life-changing tools. By encouraging digital agency and literacy, the Center empowers the next generation to thrive in a digital world. 

Recent projects have focused on youth voice research and the co-creation of educational resources with young people, ensuring that youth voice remains at the forefront of digital well-being initiatives. Most recently, the Center for Digital Thriving, alongside Hopelab, Character Lab, and In Tandem, released a free, interactive resource to help others engage youth in research: The Youth Voice Playbook.

Project overview

As part of our new collaboration, Emily Weinstein, Carrie James, Eduardo Lara, and Beck Tench from the Center for Digital Thriving are joining forces with In Tandem Youth Partners to combine their deep knowledge, experience, and innovative thinking to drive transformative approaches for thriving in a digital world.

Through this work, In Tandem and the Center for Digital Thriving will:

• Explore how youth interact with technology in their daily lives.
• Leverage focus groups and co-design sessions to inform resource creation.
• Aim to co-create tools that reflect real-world digital challenges faced by young people today.
• Ensure those solutions are practical and impactful.
• Incorporate diverse perspectives from youth across different demographics to ensure inclusivity and relevance in the materials developed.

Why In Tandem?

"Involving youth in research design is valuable because it gives young people agency and a voice in topics that matter to them. In my experience, this leads to greater impact for youth in developing effective interventions that are relevant and resonate with their lived experiences and expertise.” Eduardo Lara, Center for Digital Thriving 

Additional learning

If you’re interested in joining a new conversation about youth and technology, explore the Center for Digital Thriving’s timely research and easy-to-use resources:

• DOWNLOAD the Center’s latest report, Unpacking Grind Culture in American Teens: Pressure, Burnout, and the Role of Social Media. Discover the pressures teens face, the impact of burnout, and how adults can help.
• READ Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing (And Adults Are Missing) by the Center’s co-founders, Emily Weinstein and Carrie James. Drawing on a multiyear study of over 3,500 teens, the book offers insights to help adults understand teens' complex online lives.
• WATCH a short video on Thinking Traps, co-created and co-produced by Common Sense Education and KQED’s education team, explaining common thinking traps and how they can lead to negative emotions.

• TRY the Tech + Values Sort app (or the paper-based option) to reflect on your current values and whether tech supports or undermines them.