[Center for

Humane
Technology]

Disconnect and Recharge:

Combatting Social Media Addiction in Middle Schoolers

Camryn Eaton, Emily Holt, and Solomon Trapp

Public Relations Cases Fall 2021

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This campaign has been developed as a class assignment.
 Table of Contents
Situation Analysis ---------------------------------------------------3

SWOT Analysis ------------------------------------------------------4

Problem Statement -------------------------------------------------5

Campaign Goal ------------------------------------------------------5

Key Audiences ----------------------------------------------------6-7

Research Findings -----------------------------------------------8-13

Social Media Addiction ----------------------------------------8

Social Media Idealization Consequences ---------------------9

Cyberbullying and Online Harassment ----------------------10

Peer Influence ---------------------------------------------10-11

Brain Development ----------------------------------------11-12

Development of Positive Media Habits -------------------12-13

Repercussions of Digital Limitation --------------------------13

Strategic Recommendations ----------------------------------14-18

References -----------------------------------------------------19-21

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 Situation Analysis
Mission
The Center for Humane Technology is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that is funded by generous contributions
from foundations and individuals. The mission of the organization is to “drive a comprehensive shift toward hu-
mane technology that supports well-being, democracy, and a shared information environment”.

History
In 2013, Tristan Harris released a viral presentation at Google titled ”A Call to Minimize Distraction and Respect
Users’ Attention”. In 2017, Tristan Harris was featured on an episode of “60 Minutes” to discuss “brain hacking”
and the illusion of neutrality. Also In 2017, Harris gave a TED Talk on how a handful of major companies con-
trol the minds of billions of people. The Center for Humane Technology was founded by Harris, Aza Raskin, and
Randima Fernando shortly after in 2018 to build on the success of ‘Time well spent’ - a nonprofit organization
already in existence to bring attention to the major manipulation techniques of top tech organizations and how
those companies exercise control over humans through technology. This inspired major platforms to implement
features to better insure time spent on applications is time well spent, and benefits the individual.

Purpose
The purpose of the organization is to educate the public to the societal harms of social media, support technolo-
gists and tech leaders through training and educational resources, working groups, and advising executives, and
inform policy change to advance legislation that aligns technology with the public good.

External Factors
The Center for Humane Technology was featured in the Netflix documentary titled The Social Dilemma in which
co-founders elaborate upon the potentially harmful nature of social media. The CHT’s efforts have resulted in
media placements in The Washington Post, MSNBC News, USA Today, PR Newswire, The Verge, The New York
Times, Time Magazine, CNBC, Vox, Business World, FOX Business, The Los Angeles Times, among many other
news outlets.

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[SWOT
Analysis ]
Strengths
• Lead by prominent technology industry names
with a wide range of connections in the space
• Ability to partner with influential organiza-
tions such as Common Sense, a leading advo-
cate for children’s digital wellness, and Netflix, a
wide-reaching entertainment provider
• Vast amount of free online events that are available
for the public to further educate themselves on the
digital age of social media.
• CHT routinely moderates discussions with experts
on topics surrounding how social media affects
issues of mental health, disinformation, policies,
and so much more.
Weaknesses
• CHT’s rule-based initiatives lack practicality
• Lack of general public awareness of CHT initia-
tives
• Cannot enforce any rules or regulations for social
media platforms to abide by in order to fix this
issue.
• Bringing awareness to the issue of companies’ mis-
usage and harvesting of social media users’ only
does so much without any action to back it up.
• Solely relies on donations from sponsors for finan-
cial support.
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Opportunities
• Increased need for digital regulation amidst up-
take in social media usage
• Media coverage of the organization by large media
outlets such as The New York Times, The Wash-
ington Post, and USA Today
• Develop another film on Netflix that goes more
in-depth on the usage of algorithms and artificial
intelligence within social media platforms.
• Within this film, the Center for Humane Technol-
ogy could potentially highlight how we as users
of social media platforms can protect ourselves as
much as possible from the intrusive collection of
our data by large corporations.
Threats
• Large-scale virtual shift due to the COVID-19
pandemic could be a threat to digital well-being
• Creation of new technology that does not align
with or promote humane technology standards
• Positive messages can get lost in the overwhelm-
ingness of the digital space
• Solely relies on donations from sponsors for finan-
cial support.
[ Problem
Statement ]
Social media addiction is a behavioral disorder characterized by an un-
controllable urge to check social media and to devote so much time and
effort to social media that it impairs other important areas of life. Scien-
tific studies show increases in anger, sleep disturbances, low self-esteem,
withdrawal from face-to-face contact with peers, and low academic per-
formance among young people who have social media addiction tenden-
cies. All these consequences can affect future educational and employ-
ment opportunities.

[ Campaign
Goal ]
The goal of this public relations campaign is to educate mid-
dle school children aged 11-14 in Northern California school
districts on the negative implications of social media addiction
through the implementation of resource-based initiatives and
promotion of alternative behaviors.

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 Key Audiences
Middle school students aged 11-14 in the Northern California
school district who have one registered social media account
on any of the following platforms: Snapchat, Instagram, Face-
book, Twitter, Tiktok. This audience can help us achieve our
campaign goal most, as they are young and impressionable
children who are influenced by the media they choose to con-
sume. This demographic was chosen as the primary audience
to target with the campaign. According to an article from 2018
by the U.S. National Library of Medicine entitled “What’s the
age when kids start social media?,” approximately 56% of youth
in America have their own social media accounts. The medi-
an age for adolescents to sign up for a social media account is
12.6 years. Thus, the targeted age group of middle schoolers in
this investigation was set to be ages 11-14 years old in order to
account for adolescents who joined social media accounts at a
slightly younger and older age. The targeted geographic audience for this pilot investigation consists of North-
ern California school districts. The purpose behind this selection is because multiple reports from Northern
California schools have been released in the past few weeks surrounding violent threats associated with trend-
ing social media posts across the nation. According to an article released on Oct. 29 from KCRA Channel 3,
one of the schools within this district, River City High School in West Sacramento, went on lockdown twice in
two days after reports of a shooting threat online. Thus, the relevance of this particular incident was too valu-
able not to use as the pilot geographic location in this investigation.

Parents and guardians of middle school students aged 11-14 in

the Northern California school district who monitor the media
usage of a student. Parents are an intervening audience in ad-
dressing the problem, because most parents oversee the online
behaviors of their children and provide access to devices in the
child’s home envionment. They can intervene to help us reach
the primary audience. Parent mediation theory has been devel-
oped through research to show that parental media monitoring,
demonstration of positive media behaviors, co-use of social
media with children, and imposing limitations on a child’s use
of social media can all be effective forms of producing positive
outcomes for the parent and the child according to an article by
Len-Rios et al. While parental intervention is not conducive to
less use of social media, it can lead children to an informed user
perspective that is supported by parents. Using parents as a key
intervening audience can lead to higher levels of family connectedness, trust, and involvement. Increased pa-
rental involvement in the child’s social media consumption habits can result in use of other media alternatives
or behaviors, which directly supports campaign efforts.

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 Middle school librarians in the Northern California school
district. Librarians were chosen as an intervening audience for
the campaign because of their access to alternative resources
for children. Librarians are often viewed as knowledgeable and
respected role models by children, thus making this audience
a key message dissemenator about media in the school setting.
The library is a location that is essential to a child’s develop-
ment as a consumer of all media types. Cen Campbell and Amy
Koester develop on this idea in a chapter of an e-book titled
“Children’s Librarians as Media Mentors”. In the library setting,
guided usage of media can model positive behaviors to the stu-
dent and make for an immersive and rewarding experience. The
simple association of the library with attainment of knowledge
can allow children to open their minds to shared knowledge
from a librarian. Librarians have limitless tools to provide to
children and families, two other key audiences for this campaign. The media mentor can make recommenda-
tions, provide research, and provide adequate resources to set children up for digital media success. Addition-
ally, school librarians are in a position to only interact with the target audience as visitors to the library. Librar-
ians can locate media that appeals to the specific visitor, and this is a core function in the role of a librarian. A
librarian as a media mentor is a frame of reference for acceptable behaviors, media options that are beneficial to
the student, and a resource to parents who need a guideline for placing appropriate digital media in the hands
of their children. This audience collaborates with educators and parents to develop media literacy skills for chil-
dren and make them informed consumers. They are an essential and strategic audience for this campaign effort.

Middle school educators in the Northern California school dis-

trict. Educators were chosen as an intervening audience for the
campaign because of their direct access to the primary audience.
Children spend a great portion of their day at school, so us-
ing educators to help achieve the greater campaign goal will be
effective because of children’s signifcant exposure to educators
and their influence in students’ lives. In “The School Leader’s
Guide to Social Media” e-book, the role of the educator as a pos-
itive social media influence is explored. Educators can exercise
pro-social behavior with their influence as figures of authority
and leadership. They have the right to set the standard for behav-
iors acceptable in the digital space. Additionally, educators can
suggest positive uses of social media as an element of learning
enhancement. Providing suggestions of positive ways children
can interact with social media, including educational podcasts,
school-approved educational websites. Educators can be advocates for adherence to school policies relating to
non-instructional internet access during the school day. They can work to minimize the impacts of cyberbully-
ing and address negative social media behaviors they are made aware of in the classroom. All of these consider-
ations make getting educators on board with the campaign essential for overall campaign success.

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 Research Findings
Research Findings
Social Media Addiction
Social media addiction is a behavioral addiction that is characterized as being overly concerned about social
media, driven by an uncontrollable urge to log on to or use social media, and devoting so much time and effort
to social media that it impairs other important life areas.

Addiction to the Internet emerged as an issue beginning in the 1990s. Recent research supports the prevalence
of social media use and, with more pertinence to the current study, problematic or addictive social media use
among adolescents. For example, researchers found that 26% of middle school students in the Czech Republic
reported excessive social media use, the majority of whom were female (Spilkova et al., 2017). Furthermore,
among 5,961 Hungarian adolescents and young adults (ages 15
through 22 years), Banyai et al. (2017) found that 4.5% were at
risk for social media addiction. Those at risk for social media
addiction had lower self‐esteem, had higher levels of depres-
sive symptoms, and were more likely to be female (Banyai et al.,
2017).

According to a Mayo Clinic study conducted in 2019 of more

than 6,500 12- to 15-year-olds in the U.S, those who spent over
three hours a day utilizing social media platforms are at an in-
creased risk for developing mental health issues.

According to the Pew Research Center, a significant shift has

occurred with teenagers’ social media utilization within the past
several years. As seen within a technology usage survey from
2018, 95% of young adults own a smartphone or have access to
one. Furthermore, the strong prevalence of smartphones within this generation has fed into social media activ-
ity rates, as 45% of teens reported that they are online on a near-constant basis.

The Pew Research Center provides information about why teens

choose to use social media. As expressed in the graph to the left,
teens have a lot to say about existing in the digital space. They
have mostly positive comments, saying that they use it to pro-
mote connectedness, diversify their peer interactions, and gain
support through difficult times. There are fewer negative views
through teen eyes, as less than half of teens surveyed feel that
the negativity is too much for them, want to enhance their self
image by posting, or claim to get caught up in content interac-
tions like likes, comments, and shares. These statistics lend con-
text to the greater problem of social media addiction and offer
explanations as to what motivates teen users when they use it.

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Social Media Idealization Consequences
One of the most destructive consequences from social media idealization consists of physical and physiologi-
cal brain changes. According to a new study by Harvard University, self-disclosure on social networking sites
activates the same part of the brain that also ignites when taking a habit-forming substance. Thus, the reward
region in the brain and its chemical messenger pathways impact the decisions one makes and along with the
sensations one experiences. When one experiences something gratifying or uses an addictive substance, neu-
rons in the principal dopamine-producing areas in the brain are activated and dopamine levels rise. Therefore,
the brain receives a “reward” and further associates the drug or habit with positive reinforcement. This type of
positive reinforcement is observed frequently in social media usage through notifications of likes and mentions
on post. Such stimulations cause the brain to receive a rush of dopamine, which thus alerts the reward messen-
ger channels. This moreover establishes a pleasurable sensation for the given individual.

Thus, social media can provide a boundless amount of instan-

taneous rewards from the form of attention from others with-
out major effort expenditures. This causes the brain to rewire
itself through positive reinforcements. Individuals crave likes,
retweets, and reaction from others online. Additionally. such
destructive thoughts are especially dangerous for children expe-
riencing anxiety or depression, as they often mask serious issues
behind their social media profile pages. This makes intervention
in these adolescents’ lives so much harder for parents, guard-
ians, and friends since it is so much harder to realize that they
need help.

Another critical consequence from social media addiction and

idealization stems from socio-cognitive mechanisms. According
to an article entitled from the U.S. National Library of Medicine
National Institutes of Health, some of these proposed socio-cognitive consequences include negative self views
along with negative worldviews. Destructive thoughts can stem from such beliefs including statements such as
“I’m nobody offline, but online I am someone’ or ‘the online world is safer than the real one.” Such beliefs are
harmful for adolescent development, since such ideas feed into all areas of their life and thus adversely affect
their social activities, studies, work, interpersonal relation-
ships, mental health and well-being.

According to Jill Emanuele, PhD, Senior Director of the Mood

Disorders Center at the Child Mind Institute, “Kids view social
media through the lens of their own lives. If they’re struggling
to stay on top of things or suffering from low self-esteem,
they’re more likely to interpret images of peers having fun
as confirmation that they’re doing badly compared to their
friends.” Addiction to social media creates a distorted sense
of reality. This feeds into the concept of the “fear of missing
out”, which often leads to heavy social media usage as a coping
mechanism. The fear of being left out by others has become
a prominent stressor for adolescents. Between playing online
games and chatting with peers online, teens utilize social me-
dia to occupy themselves in periods of stress and boredom.

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Cyberbullying and Online Harassment
With digital technology and social media platforms increasing in
usage among adolescents, new arenas for releasing aggression and
bullying have emerged.

Cyberbullying and harassment is defined as, “deliberately using digi-

tal media to communicate false, embarrassing, or hostile information
about another person” (O’Keefe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011). Cyberbully-
ing consists of spreading rumors or false information about someone,
posting hurtful information or images online, or saying mean things
that humiliate others in public and damage their reputation.

Online harassment and cyberbullying are oftentimes used inter-

changeably, but they both serve as different entities. According to a
study conducted by PEW Research Center, data suggest that online
harassment is not as common as offline. However, the presence of cyberbullying is profound and any young person
can be subjected to this type of domineering behavior. The presence of cyberbullying and harassment has steadily
grown in the age of social media amongst many adolescents in that age range of 11-14 and has provoked a significant
number of mental health concerns such as anxiety, depression, isolation and suicidal ideations.

Among middle school students in the United States, researchers found that 72% of cyberbullying perpetrators said
they cyberbullied to retaliate against someone, 22% cyber bullied because it was funny, 17% cyberbullied without
realizing it would cause harm, and 17% reported they did not know why they did it (Mark & Ratliffe, 2011).

Peer Influence
Peer influence effects have been well demonstrated in adolescent decision-making. Adolescence is especially import-
ant for social cognitive development; it is theorized to be a sensitive period during which young people are uniquely
attuned to the complexities of interpersonal relationships (Baird, 2012; Blakemore & Mills, 2014).

Adolescents are prone to be more sensitive when it comes to belonging among a group of peers and will alter their
actions and beliefs to mimic those of others to fit in. This holds true for adolescents’ online presence, as they are
more likely to post pictures, share content, and comment on posts
similar to those of their peers. These findings have been interpreted to
suggest that adolescents have a strong need to follow norms of their peer
group and show compliance and conformity. Conformity is a change
in behavior or belief toward a group standard as a result of the group’s
influence on an individual. As this definition indicates, conformity is a
type of social influence through which group members come to share
similar beliefs and standards of behavior. It includes the processes by
which group members converge on a given standard of belief or behavior
as well as the pressures they exert on one another to uphold such stan-
dards. Compliance is behavioral conformity in order to achieve rewards
or avoid punishments (Kelman, 1958).

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The dopaminergic system and related regions in the striatum are implicated in potential mechanisms underlying two
common features of adolescence: escalation in risk-taking behaviors and increased desire to spend time with and
earn the approval of peers (Steinberg, 2008)

In the study “The Power of the Like in Adolescence: Effects of Peer Influence on Neural and Behavioral Responses
to Social Media”, researchers assessed the reaction and influence of social media feedback from peers of adolescents.
The study found that the popularity of a post had a significant influence on the way it was perceived. “Adolescents
were more likely to like a photo—even one portraying risky behaviors, such as smoking marijuana or drinking alco-
hol—if that photo had received more likes from peers”. This reinforces the idea that content perception by peers is a
driving factor in children’s creation of content and involement with social media platforms.

Brain Development
Many of the youth are consumed by media usage as they live in a world encompassing technology. Adolescents
today are born in an era where technology has always been present. They don’t remember a time where technology
or internet didn’t exist, hence making them “digital natives”. Digital natives are people who have grown up under the
ubiquitous influence of the internet and other modern information technologies.

Digital natives think, learn, and understand the world around them differently from people who have not been as
subjected to modern technology. Digital natives have become the primary focus of modern marketing techniques
and strategies. On average, social media consumes around 7-9 hours of an american adolescents day, excluding other
responsibilities such as eating, schoolwork, and sleep.

Heightened sensitivity to socially relevant cues may be driven by hormonal influences on the brain during puberty
that bias attention and actions toward social stimuli (Peper & Dahl, 2013, Bell, & Sisk in this issue)
Luna and colleagues show that prefrontal circuitry underlying the ability to flexibly regulate impulses and decisions
(i.e., cognitive control) has a protracted course from childhood to adulthood.

Studies into cultural sexualisation express concern, however, that these trends compress childhood and adolescence,
and accelerate sexual development. In addition to fears of a loss of childhood, this process is considered unhealthy
because children and teens are still developing cognitively, socially and emotionally, and therefore lack sufficient ma-
turity to fully understand and consent to the sexual material they are both producing via social media and exposed
to through the wider media sphere. On this basis, uploading an explcit ‘selfie’ or footage of a drunk night out to a
social media platform would make logical sense to a teen because the immediate rewards – like receiving attention
and admiration, and achieving a sense of belonging – rate higher in the teen’s mind than the risk of a future employer
uncovering their unsavory images during a routine background check.

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There is a simultaneous expectation within a developmental discourse that teens will therefore take risks, push
boundaries and make mistakes in the course of maturing into adulthood, and that this is a necessary part of
growing up (Klein, in Wyn and White, 1997) To be young on social media is to ‘perform’ one’s youth, and this can
be considered harmful because to perform youthful identity rather than to just ‘be’ young changes the context of
youth, making it into something other than the natural process of development it is supposed to be.
A National Academy of Sciences working group found that media multitasking among youth is associated with
poorer memory, increased impulsivity, and changes in brain function.

Social awareness programs like ‘ThinkUKnow’ attempt to help teens to stay ‘in control’ of their online content, to
know the risks and to keep themselves safe (ThinkUKnow Australia, 2014)

Development of Positive Media Habits

In an e-book authored by Kristy Goodwin, ways to develop healthy habits with media are explored. It is suggested
that childhood educators need resources about how to promote these habits and the implications they can have in
the classroom, the place where middle-school aged children spend a majority of their time. Research acknowledges
that technology time is unavoidable, but time should be spent providing children with knowledge on best practices
for healthy usage of media.

Media management plans are an option suggested for use by parents and educators in order to accurately monitor
online behaviors. Lisa Guernsey provided three identifiers that are essential to consider relating to media selection
and consumption: content, context, and child. Monitoring what children are accessing is priority over monitoring the
amount of screen time children receive.

Providing children with experience with technology that promotes language development, healthy interactions with
other children, inspires and encourages creativity, and allowing them to develop positive content are educational
ways to combat potentially detrimental media usage. Technology should be used as a complement to in-person inter-
actions.

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Resources that can help parents and educators identify positive content for children include Common Sense Media,
an app parents can use on Android or iOS devices, and Children’s Technology Review, an online service that can
provide reviews to parents on digital media offerings.

Media usage around bedtime can impact sleep habits and ultimately school performance. To combat this, parents
should set parameters for digital time spent and provide a cut off time to children for devices, ideally 90 minutes
before the child goes to sleep. If this cannot be avoided, dimming brightness or avoiding fast-paced media activities
can be beneficial for the child.

Tech-free zone development is another strategy proposed through research. This suggestion includes making an
appealing environment with comfy seating options and alternative options for social interaction made available to
children in a school setting or at home.

Repercussions of Digital Usage and Limitation

Restriction serves to limit, if not destroy, teens’ access to their social world and participation in online activities
like education and entertainment. Limitation is not an effective strategy because the majority of teens are already
active users on digital platforms, and restricting or prohibiting use does not guarantee success, but rather cause
teens to result to using social media in secrecy. The graphic below shows the platforms that teens engage with the
most.

According to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey of 802 parents of teens, most parents were already concerned
about their teenagers’ online behavior and privacy: 81 percent were concerned about advertisers learning infor-
mation about their children, 72 percent were concerned about how their children interact online with people
unknown to them, 69 percent were concerned about the impact of their children’s online activity on academic
and employment opportunities, and 69 percent were con-
cerned about their children’s management of their online
reputation.

Cyber-safety and media literacy programs seek to raise

awareness about the risks and effects of online media use,
model ethical online behavior, and encourage teachers
and parents to help children to critically engage with
what they consume (Burton, 2013).

It is essential to consider here that there is no eraser or

undo button, law or policy that can protect adolescents
from the repercussions of social media usage. Once
someone posts, repost, or comments on social media they have to understand that their content may be interpret-
ed by others differently or have future repercussions. One can delete a post or comment to prevent further dam-
age, but that post will always be out there. To help prevent adolescents from posting regrettable material, parents
and guardians can play an important role by not simply monitoring their teenagers’ online activities, but engag-
ing them in discussions of their posting habits and decisions.

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 Strategic Recommendations
With the above research considered and developed, the PR team decided to create some unique strategies to
present to the Center for Humane Technology for implementation in the Northern California School District.
These are some strategic recommendations made for the key audience of middle school students in the district
aged 11-14:

Strategy: Creation of campaign branding and tagline of “Disconnect and Recharge”

The campaign tagline “Disconnect and Recharge” was created to give a tangible identity to the formation of
healthy media habits. The campaign branding can be used as a tool to create a uniform look for campaign pro-
motional materials.

• Tactic: Stickers with “Disconnect and Recharge” branding. A sticker can appeal to the
middle school aged demographic, as they can place these on lockers, notebooks, and
other areas where peers will see them and remember the campaign message.

• Tactic: Creation of “Disconnect and Recharge” branded footballs, basketballs, soccer

balls, and frisbees to promote positive alternative behaviors to social media usage.
The distibribution of these materials to schools in the district allows the message to be
associated with positive behaviors, like getting active. The team envisioned the use of
this equipment in physical education classes, as well as providing these items as give-
aways for children to use at home. The availability of suitable equipment for exercise could be a barrier
to physical activity, so this tactic seeks to remove this barrier for the children. It also ties key messages
distributed in informational materials to students and parents to an exciting item for children to use. This
prompts children to inquire further into the campaign efforts.

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• Tactic: Brochure to be targeted at parents of district students with “Disconnect and Recharge” branding. A
brochure is preferred to a flyer for this task, because brochure are crafted with sturdy materials in compar-
ison with flyers printed on standard copy paper. Parents have investment in their childrens’ media habits,
as these have influence on mental health and overall well-being. The brochure will have information on the
campaign goal and initiatives to keep parents informed. In addition to sending these home with children,
brochures will be made available in the school’s front office and the guidance counselor’s office to ensure am-
ple access to the brochure for parents. A digitized version is to be published on the school website.

• Tactic: Bumper stickers showcasing campaign

branding to distribute to parents and teachers. The
purpose of this tacitc is to further message expo-
sure, establish familiarity of branding, and encour-
age the involvement of parents and educators in
campaign initiatives. By proudly displaying the
bumper stickers on the backs of cars and laptops,
parents and teachers will thus help spread aware-
ness about the central purpose behind the “Dis-
connect and Recharge” messaging.

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 Strategy: Using middle school librarians as media mentors

Librarians are used in the campaign as key message dissemenators because of their supportive and educational
role in the school. Additionally, their work towards positive media habits does not impose on instructional time
for the target audience in core classes. Additionally, since the library is a school location that is a hub for print
media sources, the library is an ideal place to educate children on the positive alternatives available to social
media in the school setting.

• Tactic: “Media Mentor” signage to be placed in the middle

school libraries of Northern California School Districts.
This designates the librarian as a resource to children. The
signage, as mocked up, could be placed on the circulation
desk to welcome children’s questions about what a media
mentor can help them achieve. Signage concept is featured
to the right.

• Tactic: Designated “Tech-Free Zone” signage for a portion

of the library to be separated from library computers and
tablets. Tech-free zone development is an approach sug-
gested through research, providing for a digital reset for
children. Signage concept is depicted to the right.

• Tactic: Librarian-developed newsletter to distibute to

parents and make available to students who visit the
library. In this newsletter, the librarians will discuss their
efforts with the children in the library setting. This keeps
parents in the loop on the school’s efforts to support the
campaign.

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 Strategy: Social media monitoring log competition

While the purpose of the campaign is to get the target audience to keep track of their own media usage, the
creation of a media log competition could provide an accountability guideline for children to follow in order to
take ownership of their media consumption habits, and create an incentivized effort to engage the students. The
social media logging contest is to last 9 weeks during the first semester.

The grade with the highest amounts of participation in the contest will win a grade-wide pizza party. Addition-
ally, every student in the grade will receive a campaign-branded “Disconnect and Recharge” water bottle.

5 students who participate in consistent logging will be randomly selected to win an all-expenses-paid trip to
Universal Studios Hollywood to visit Harry Potter World with Daniel Radcliff. The trip would take place over
Christmas break following the first semester. The purpose of using Radcliff as an ambassador is that he does not
use social media. Radcliff said when asked if he used social media “When I was younger - not anymore...I used
to look up comments about myself on the Internet...That is an insane and bad thing to do.” Additionally, The
CEO of the Center for Humane Technology Tristan Harris will be flown in to honor the 5 students selected for
the trip at the December PTA meeting.

• Tactic: Creation of campaign-branded social media logging document. Concept log is featured below.

• Tactic: Campaign-branded water bottles as prizes for participation. This prize incentivizes participation in
media logging for students.
• Tactic: Email to parents making them aware of the social media logging competition and prizes. Parents can
encourage student participation while staying informed on campaign initiatives.

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Strategy: Providing parents with the Center for Humane Technology’s youth media kit as
a resource to educate themselves and their children on the impact of social media and
social media addiction

As the Center for Humane Technology has already developed toolkits to serve as resources for these interven-
ing audiences, bringing awareness to those resources was another priority. CHT has courses on social media
best practices, social media’s impact on behavior, and positive message creation each lasting from 30-60 min-
utes that are free to access for children, parents, and educators. The existence of these resources removes the
guesswork from distributing beneficial information to the target audience.

• Tactic: Craft emails to parents providing instructions on how to access CHT’s youth media toolkit. This
email will feature a QR code with direct digital access to the toolkit. Parents will be encouraged to work
through the toolkit alongside their child in order to ensure both campaign audiences receive information
from the same resource. The QR code allows for PR practitioners to monitor the usage of the toolkit and
adjust promotional materials as needed.

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