Children and Screens’ virtual research retreat, “Character Matters: Values and Resilience in the Digital Age,” explored how technology and digital media influence youth character development and what systems and contextual structures can support healthy development in today’s digital world.
The event convened 100+ scholars, care providers, educators, and leaders from youth- and family-serving organizations for a virtual retreat that inspired new research, education, and interventions into this timely subject.
Over the course of the retreat, participants dug into seven areas: how children develop moral values, civic identity, intellectual habits, and the grit and resilience that help them become “good citizens,” as well as what young people themselves are experiencing, what interventions actually work, and how the design of digital platforms is shaping all of it.
Key Takeaways
The Time to Act Is Now
Children are growing up in a time marked by division, mistrust, and growing hostility. At the same time, young people are navigating digital spaces that are changing faster than adults can fully understand or science can measure. Helping children develop empathy, integrity, sound judgment, resilience, and strong values has never been more important and we cannot afford to wait.
Character Grows through Relationships
Children learn how to care about others and persevere through their relationships with parents, caregivers, teachers, and other trusted adults. The simple act of being fully present matters more than we often realize. Putting down a phone, listening carefully, and paying attention during everyday moments helps children learn empathy, respect, and connection. Modeling appropriate strategies for managing challenging interactions and tough circumstances, and sharing our own learnings along the way, helps children develop skills necessary for planning, problem solving, and follow through. These small interactions are not insignificant — they are where character develops.
Just as importantly, children need opportunities to care about people who are different from themselves. Learning to understand and respect people with different backgrounds, beliefs, and experiences is a key part of building both strong character and a healthy society.
Adults Matter — and They Need Support
Parents, caregivers, educators, and other adults play a critical role in helping young people navigate both the digital world and everyday life. Children learn from what adults do, what they talk about, and what they expect. But adults cannot do this work alone. Many are trying to guide children through technologies and challenges that did not exist when they were growing up and are changing at a pace impossible to keep up with. Families and educators need practical and evidence-based resources, training, and support so they can confidently help young people make healthy choices online and offline.
Be a Guide, Not Just a Rule-Maker
Setting limits around technology is important, but it is not enough. Young people need adults who are willing to engage with them: asking questions with genuine curiosity, discussing what they see online, exploring digital spaces together, and helping them make sense of difficult experiences without judgment. The most effective approach is not simply monitoring and restricting. It is participating, guiding, and learning alongside young people with intention and authenticity.
Character Development Starts Early
Long before adolescence, children are developing the foundations of their character, including their values, empathy, resilience, and curiosity. These early experiences help shape the habits, skills, and perspectives they carry into adulthood, influencing how they form relationships, respond to challenges, and engage with the world as adults. This makes investing in character development at an early age essential for healthy growth at every stage of life.
Technology’s Influence Starts Early Too — And How We Use It Matters
Children are exposed to screens, apps, and AI from infancy, making it increasingly important to consider how technology shapes early child development. During early childhood, children are building the cognitive, emotional, and social foundations that shape future learning, relationships, and well-being. While technology can help young people acquire these skills, important opportunities for growth are lost when it replaces, rather than supports, thinking or human connection, or contributes to misinformation and hyperpolarization. With this in mind, the goal is not to avoid technology, but to use it intentionally and responsibly at every age, recognizing that digital experiences in early childhood can have lasting impacts on all aspects of development, including character.
Growth Comes through Effort
Struggle is not something to eliminate from childhood — it is part of learning and growth. Reasoning through a problem, persisting when something is difficult, taking risks, and recovering from mistakes are all experiences that help build character. If technology consistently removes those challenges, it can also reduce opportunities for growth. Technology should help young people engage more deeply with learning, not make effort unnecessary.
Young People Should Be Partners in the Solution
Young people are often more thoughtful and reflective than adults assume. Many teenagers are already wrestling with questions about AI, ethics, authenticity, and responsible technology use. They are developing their own ideas and making deliberate choices in an environment that often pushes them in the opposite direction. Programs, policies, and technologies are more effective when young people help shape them. Involving youth in designing solutions not only improves outcomes — it also helps build confidence, responsibility, and leadership.
Today’s Pressures Are New
Today’s young people face challenges that previous generations never experienced. They are navigating constant connectivity, evolving social norms, and growing pressure to use technologies like AI in school and everyday life. There are few clear rules and little agreement among adults about what healthy use looks like. In many ways, young people are helping create the norms as they go. Adults do not need to have all the answers. What matters most is showing up with curiosity, openness, and a willingness to learn together.
Technology Companies Must Share Responsibility
Many popular digital platforms are intentionally designed to capture and hold attention. These designs can take advantage of vulnerabilities that children and adolescents are still learning to manage. Teaching self-control and healthy habits is important, but it is difficult when technologies are built to encourage constant engagement. Supporting children’s wellbeing requires both individual-level efforts and broader changes to platform design, business incentives, and public policy. Technology companies must be part of the solution.
The Goal is Independence
The ultimate goal is not simply limiting screen time or enforcing rules. It is helping young people become independent thinkers who can make choices that align with their values. Success should be measured by more than test scores or hours spent online. Signs of healthy development include thoughtful decision-making, accountability to others, self-reflection, resilience, and a growing sense of personal responsibility. These are the outcomes that matter most.
Offline Relationships Keep Young People Grounded
Offline relationships matter. Friends, family, mentors, community involvement, and everyday offline experiences provide the foundation children need to thrive. At its best, technology strengthens those connections rather than replacing them. Our responsibility is to ensure that it does.
Equity Must Be Part of Every Solution
Not all children experience technology in the same way. Factors such as income, disability, race, culture, language, and neurodiversity influence both opportunities and risks. Solutions that ignore these differences can leave some children behind. Research, policy, education, and technology design must reflect the full diversity of young people’s experiences and needs.
Change Requires Action at Every Level
There is no single solution to the challenges facing young people today. Families, schools, technology companies, researchers, policymakers, and communities all have a role to play. Supporting children’s well-being means improving education, strengthening school cultures, improving social norms, designing healthier technologies, supporting adults, and creating policies that prioritize children’s best interests. These changes cannot wait. The decisions we make today will shape the environments in which children grow, learn, and develop for years to come.
The content of the research retreat will inform a four-part webinar series, to be released in Fall 2026, free to the public.
Since 2020, Children and Screens’ research retreats have gathered over 100 global experts across disciplines to examine urgent questions about youth media use. These events are designed to advance cutting edge research, foster cross-sector collaborations, inform and influence public policy, and educate key stakeholders with evidence-based insights. (Learn more about our past research retreats.)
If you have questions, please contact events@childrenandscreens.org.
This project is made possible through the support of Grant 633314 from the John Templeton Foundation.