webinar

Thriving in a Digital World

DATE

October 2, 2024

TIME

2-3p ET / 11a-noon PT

LOCATION

Virtual

A Conversation with Harvard’s Center for Digital Thriving

The new Center for Digital Thriving at Harvard notes that technology is both: helpful and harmful…energizing and exhausting…connecting and dividing.
Register

If this resonates with you and you’re interested in a nuanced, optimistic and critical approach to supporting the capacity of adolescents and young adults to thrive in our digital world, join GTY on Wednesday Oct 2.

We’ll talk with Dr. Emily Weinstein, the Center’s founding Co-Director, and young people offering their lived experiences of living and thriving in digital spaces. The mission of the Center for Digital Thriving is to create knowledge and research-based resources that help people—especially youth—thrive in a tech-filled world. The Center is supported by GTY member Susan Crown Exchange and Pivotal Ventures.

This program is free and open to grantmakers and others in the thriving youth community. GTY’s webinars and funder learning opportunities are made possible through the time and expertise of presenters from the field. In the spirit of transparency, GTY will make available the list of webinar participants to presenters upon request, unless the registrant requests to remain anonymous (please indicate your preference via the registration form).

Speakers

Dr. Emily Weinstein

Founding Co-Director, The Center for Digital Thriving, Harvard University

Dr. Emily Weinstein is a Principal Investigator at Project Zero, a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and founding Co-Director of the new Center for Digital Thriving. Dr. Weinstein studies the intersections of contemporary technologies with the social, emotional, and civic lives of adolescents and emerging adults. Her research draws on a variety of methodological approaches, including digital post-analyses, interviews, surveys, focus groups, and experiments. She is especially passionate about translational research work and projects that center youth voice.

Weinstein’s published work includes the book Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing (And Adults Are Missing) (with Carrie James, The MIT Press, 2022), as well as articles in journals like New Media & Society, Computers in Human Behavior, Journal of Adolescent Research, and International Journal of Communication. On alternating years, Dr. Weinstein teaches the course “Digital Dilemmas: Adolescents Behind Their Screens” (HGSE, T510A).

Outside of her academic research, she works regularly with schools and families to remagine supports for digital life. Emily is also a longtime collaborator of Common Sense Education, where she has worked on resource development and research behind their award-winning digital citizenship curriculum. She holds a Master’s degree (Ed.M.) in Prevention Science and Practice and a Doctorate (Ed.D.) in Human Development and Education, both from Harvard University, and a B.S. from Cornell University.

Eli Horwitch

Student, Brown University; Teen Advisor, Center for Digital Thriving

Eli Horwitch is a student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Modern Culture and Media studies at Brown University. Hailing from Los Angeles, California, Eli has ample experience navigating the complexities of social media. Beyond the classroom, he has served as a listener on a crisis hotline and enjoys writing and performing in theatrical pursuits. Eli has worked with the Center for Digital Thriving for over three years as a teen advisor and intern.

Throughout his work with the center, he provided teenage insights for Dr. Emily Weinstein and Carrie James’ book Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing (And Adults Are Missing), published an article regarding the center’s ongoing research, and served as a guest panelist for Dr. Weinstein and James’ graduate level courses.

Zoya Unni

Student, Brown University

Zoya is senior at Brown University studying Philosophy and Science, Technology & Society. She has conducted research on social media since 2019. She has a published article on TikTok content during the early days of the US COVID-19 pandemic. She participated in a teen advisory board related to a Harvard GSE study on adolescent social media usage and now guest-speaks at universities about social media trends and wellbeing. She is now especially interested in looking into navigating romantic and sexual relationships on social media as a young adult.

Presented by

Grantmakers for Thriving Youth