What is The Balance Project?

The Balance Project is an organization working to bring life + technology into harmony for kids, families and communities at-large.

With both a behavior-changing community activation approach as well as curated support and alternatives for screentime at each age and life-stage, The Balance Project is helping to find a realistic, sustainable “sweet spot” of screen-life and real-life that allows children, families and communities to thrive in our ever-evolving modern society. 

Why do we need The Balance Project?

Technology has radically and rapidly changed how we live and spend our most precious resource: time.

In 2024, Americans spent ~75% of their waking hours on a screen, with children raising that average significantly. In addition to the opportunity cost of that time spent, we now know that this behavior does not bode well for our children's mental health or development. They are missing out on real-life experiences and developmental building blocks in favor of passive (sometimes harmful) content and (sometimes addictive) technology. The pendulum has swung too far and we need to work together to swing it back!

Are you anti-technology?

No! We believe in the power of technology AND we know that when overused, it brings a whole new host of challenges into our lives. Much like anything in life, when overdone, the negative impacts outweigh the positives and need to be brought into harmony. We plan to work together to define this balance to ensure our kids are equipped to thrive in our ever-evolving modern society.

If we reduce time with technology, then what do we do?

We need to increase unstructured time and free play. We know from decades of research and thousands of years of human development that kids need free play and age-appropriate independence to build competence, confidence, resilience, emotional regulation, social skills and more! We will be considering this as a major piece of our co-created recommended approach.

How can I get involved and/or stay in the loop?

Visit our Get Involved section to learn more!