What’s the Digital Well-Being specialized unit?
The Digital Well-Being specialized unit is a grade-level learning experience designed to help students develop the skills they need to navigate today’s digital world in healthy, thoughtful, and responsible ways.
Rather than focusing on specific devices, apps, or rules, this unit helps students explore how technology connects to emotions, relationships, accountability, learning, and decision-making. Lessons guide students to reflect on their choices, understand impact, and build habits that support long-term well-being, both online and offline.
The unit is developmentally designed for Kindergarten through Grade 12, with learning that grows in depth and complexity as students mature.
Why did the Second Step® team create the Digital Well-Being specialized unit?
Technology plays an increasingly influential role in students’ lives by shaping how they learn, communicate, build relationships, and see themselves. Schools are often asked to respond to challenges such as online conflict, misinformation, digital stress, and emerging technologies, yet many educators lack consistent tools or shared language to address these topics in meaningful ways.
The Digital Well-Being specialized unit was created to support schools in moving from reactive responses to proactive skill-building. By grounding digital learning in human skills, the unit helps students develop awareness, responsibility, and agency that transfer across platforms and over time.
Why is digital well-being important right now?
Students are encountering digital spaces earlier, more frequently, and in more complex ways than ever before. At the same time, new technologies, including artificial intelligence, are rapidly changing how students access information and complete learning tasks.
Schools are looking for ways to help students:
- Manage attention and balance
- Navigate online relationships
- Think critically about information and influence
- Use technology responsibly and ethically
Digital well-being instruction supports students not by limiting access but by helping them build the judgment and self-awareness needed to make thoughtful choices through skills that will continue to matter as technology evolves.
How is this different from digital citizenship programs?
Many digital citizenship programs focus primarily on rules, policies, or correct behavior, while the Second Step Digital Well-Being specialized unit takes a different approach. These lessons focus on how students think, feel, and make decisions in digital spaces. Students are encouraged to reflect, discuss real-world scenarios, consider multiple perspectives, and understand impact rather than simply memorizing dos and don’ts. This approach helps learning remain relevant, even as tools, platforms, and technologies rapidly change.
What topics are included in the unit?
Topics vary by grade level and are developmentally appropriate. Depending on age, students may explore:
- Screen balance and healthy technology habits
- Online relationships and belonging
- Digital self and digital footprints
- Media literacy and misinformation
- Artificial intelligence and ethical use
- Empathy, accountability, and leadership in digital spaces
All topics are explored through discussion, reflection, and skill-building, supporting meaningful learning rather than surface-level awareness.
How is the unit structured?
Each grade level includes:
- A clear digital well-being focus
- A connected human skills focus
- A unit essential question to anchor learning
- Defined learning objectives
Lessons are designed to support discussion, reflection, and real-world application, helping students connect learning to their everyday experiences.
The unit also follows a consistent five-phase learning cycle, helping students gradually build understanding, confidence, and agency:
- Awareness: Students build foundational understanding and recognize how digital experiences affect themselves and others.
- Exploration: Students examine scenarios, perspectives, and influences to deepen critical thinking.
- Creation: Students apply learning by designing plans, guidelines, or solutions that reflect responsible decision-making.
- Reflection: Students consider impact, evaluate choices, and strengthen self-awareness.
- Action: Students put learning into practice through authentic, student-driven application.
This cycle-based approach ensures digital well-being instruction is not a one-time conversation or a compliance lesson. Instead, it supports:
- Deeper learning by revisiting ideas through multiple lenses
- Student voice and ownership by emphasizing creation and action
- Transferable skills students can apply beyond the classroom
- Consistency across grade levels, giving districts a cohesive K–12 experience
By moving students from understanding to action, the Digital Well-Being specialized unit helps ensure learning sticks and supports healthier habits, stronger decision-making, and more responsible engagement in digital spaces.
How does this connect to the Second Step® human skills framework?
Digital well-being is an extension of human skills development. The same skills—such as self-awareness, empathy, responsible decision-making, and ethical leadership—that students practice in face-to-face interactions are essential in digital spaces as well. The Digital Well-Being specialized unit helps students apply these human skills in a modern context, reinforcing that they matter everywhere students live and learn.
What outcomes can schools expect?
Schools implementing the Digital Well-Being specialized unit can expect:
- Increased student awareness around digital choices and impact
- Improved reflection and decision-making in online situations
- Greater confidence among educators addressing digital topics
- More consistent language and expectations across grade levels
Over time, these skills support healthier habits, stronger relationships, and more thoughtful technology use.
Where does the Digital Well-Being specialized unit live in the Second Step® platform?
The Digital Well-Being specialized unit is accessed within the Second Step digital platform and taught through the same teaching experience educators already use.
- Second Step K–8 digital programs: Available as a specialized unit (a new tab in addition to the four core units)
- Second Step® High School: Available as a specialized unit
Is this included in our current Second Step® license?
No. The Digital Well-Being specialized unit is offered as an additional specialized unit and is available for purchase alongside a district’s Second Step digital license. Speak with a Second Step representative for pricing details.
Can districts use grant or federal funding for this unit?
Many districts may be able to support this work through funding sources focused on student well-being and safe learning environments, such as Title IV-A. Funding decisions vary by district, and local guidance should always be followed. Speak with a Second Step representative for additional funding information.
Does this unit replace local district technology policies?
No. The Digital Well-Being specialized unit is designed to complement existing district policies and expectations. It helps students understand the reasoning within those policies by building awareness, reflection, and personal responsibility.
How much instructional time is required?
The unit is designed to fit within typical instructional schedules and can be implemented flexibly based on school and district needs. Schools may choose to teach lessons consecutively or integrate them throughout the year.
Who should teach the Digital Well-Being specialized unit?
The unit is designed for classroom educators and can also be supported by counselors, specialists, or instructional teams, depending on local structures.
Will educators receive professional development for the Digital Well-Being specialized unit?
Yes. The Digital Well-Being specialized unit includes embedded professional development (PD) designed specifically for educators who are teaching the lessons. This professional learning is built directly into the unit, so teachers don’t need to look elsewhere for training or background information.
The embedded PD helps educators understand both the why and the how behind digital well-being instruction, including:
- Why digital well-being is critical for today’s students
- Research about the unit’s inquiry-based collaborative learning structure
- Current research and trends related to student technology use
- How digital behaviors impact learning, attention, and relationships
- Connections between digital well-being and classroom behavior
- Guidance for facilitating thoughtful discussion and reflection
- Developmentally appropriate expectations for each grade level
- Three model teaching PD videos: one for K–5, one for 6–8, and one for 9–12
The goal is to help educators feel confident leading conversations that may feel new, complex, or sensitive.
Where do teachers access the professional development?
The professional development lives within the Digital Well-Being specialized unit itself. When educators log in to teach the unit, the PD is available right alongside the lessons, making it easy to access at the moment it’s most relevant. There’s no need to search in another area of the platform or attend separate trainings.
How long does the professional development take?
The PD is designed to be:
- Concise and respectful of educators’ time
- Self-paced and flexible
- Practical and immediately applicable
Educators can complete it before starting the unit, return to it during instruction, or revisit it later as a refresher.
Is this professional development required?
The PD is highly recommended for the most effective teaching and learning experience, but it does not block materials from being taught. Schools and districts can decide how they want teachers to engage with it, and a certificate of completion creates an opportunity for teachers to formally recognize their professional learning and continued growth.
How does this professional development support student outcomes?
We know that high-quality instruction depends on educator confidence. By embedding PD directly into the Digital Well-Being specialized unit, we help ensure that teachers feel prepared, supported, and aligned without adding extra steps or additional time burdens. This approach supports more consistent instruction and better experiences for students.
Will reporting be available for the Digital Well-Being specialized unit?
Yes. Reporting will be available through the Leader Dashboard. School and district leaders will be able to view high-level implementation data that helps them understand how the unit is being used across classrooms and grade levels. This visibility supports instructional planning and overall implementation success.
Reporting focuses on usage and implementation trends. The reporting experience is designed to align with existing Second Step reports, allowing leaders to easily incorporate Digital Well-Being specialized unit insights into their current workflow.