Make a list of what core values will guide this season—or maybe a rally cry like, “Just keep Swimming” from Finding Dory or “Do the Next Right Thing” from Frozen 2. Ask your kids to join you, co-creating a vision for how you want your family to live this season! Then…hang them up! Whether it is just a handwritten post-it on the fridge or a Pinterest-inspired art print doesn’t matter, but hang your vision in your home as a visual reminder of what your family is striving for.

Even before quarantine, studies showed that we look at our phones 80+ times a day – and based on our own news and social media scrolling amidst this crisis, it’s likely gone up.

It’s spring! Time to clean out the garage, organize the closets, open up our windows and sweep out winter’s dust. But for many of us, clutter isn’t just found in the closets of our homes– it also gathers in the corners of our phones. So, just like tidying-expert Marie Kondo suggests getting rid of things that don’t spark joy, consider what a good old fashioned spring cleaning might do for your digital life and mental health.

We know it might not be practical for every family to make it 24 hours offline—so even if you can only find 30 minutes to unplug and connect with your favorite people, we say it counts! If you want a fun way to let people know you are unplugging, grab an “I unplug” poster here and post it on social media as an “out of office” type message.

One of our rules of thumb is Start with Yourself. But one of the top obstacles parents share? Figuring out what digital health looks like at work. We loved these examples from companies who are taking this to heart and experimenting with new workplace practices to support digital wellness, including Netsmart—a healthcare company based in Kansas City.

20 year habits can be hard to break…so we were thrilled when START advisor and friend, Valerie Bockstette, shared with us how one simple shift improved her digital health in an unexpected, and totally addictive, way.

“Five breakdowns and four fruit snack packs into the morning, I find myself checking out and looking for something to numb the frustration that I feel building from the inside out. This is about the time I grab my phone and get on Instagram. Immediately my feed is flooded with filtered squares that deliver a message before I even read the caption…” START parent Cierra Karson shares five fresh ideas on how to handle social media fatigue as a young parent.

Teachers like Kathryn Sanfle are on the front lines of the mental health epidemic, seeing some of the harshest sides of our kids’ digital reality—and at START, we think she’s spot on: how powerful would it be if parents and teachers could speak the same language when it comes to adopting healthy screen habits? That’s why we’re here. This fall, based on requests from multiple school administrators, START is releasing a program specifically for teachers and administrators…

As mental health professionals, the staff at Johnson County Mental Health Center are hyper aware of how unhealthy tech use can negatively impact the families they serve—oftentimes creating a barrier in relationships, which are essential for recovery. This week, we were given the privilege of bringing our START program to their staff, and together we considered the role technology has played in exacerbating the side effects they are seeing…

Last week, START visited Netsmart COO Tom Herzog and a great team of leaders, and enjoyed a conversation rich with anecdotes about the importance of water cooler talk with coworkers, and undivided attention with clients. But we also pressed into a question that is easy to avoid: how can healthy tech use in the workplace help their organization make a difference, one person at a time? …