The 2025 Digital Media and Developing Minds International Scientific Congress is an interdisciplinary convening that will bring together researchers, clinicians, educators, government agency representatives, and others with expertise in child development, psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience, pediatrics, communications, social work, public health, education, human-computer interaction and more to explore how digital media use impacts the social, psychological, cognitive, behavioral, and physical development of children and adolescents. 

This four-day conference will be held at the Westin Downtown, 999 9th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. and will feature a variety of events, including featured keynotes, interdisciplinary panel discussions, new research presentations, flash talks, a Tools and Methodologies Exposition, poster sessions, and networking opportunities.

Building on the momentum of our sold out Congress in 2023 and the Institute’s two previous convenings, the 2025 Congress is sure to be a can’t miss event!

The 2025 Congress was made possible by the guidance of Children and Screens’ founder and members of the Institute’s National Scientific Advisory Board. Their combined expertise helped shape the Congress’s programming to best reflect the event’s goal of bringing together interdisciplinary experts to explore how digital media use impacts the social, psychological, cognitive, behavioral, and physical development of children and adolescents.

Dimitri Christakis, MD, MPH
Seattle Children’s Hospital, University of Washington, JAMA Pediatrics, Special Olympics, Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development

Lauren Hale, PhD
Stony Brook University

Pam Hurst-Della Pietra, DO
Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development, Stony Brook University

Heather Kirkorian, PhD
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Marc Potenza, MD, PhD
Yale School of Medicine

Stephanie Reich, PhD
University of California, Irvine

Desmond Upton Patton, PhD
University of Pennsylvania

Ellen Wartella, PhD
Northwestern University

Paul Weigle, MD
Hartford Hospital, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

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