Creating Community Norms for Healthy Technology Use

Learn how to collaborate effectively with staff, families, students, and community partners to establish shared norms that promote responsible digital habits extending beyond the school day.

What are Community Norms?

Community Norms are shared values and practices developed collaboratively by families, students, educators, and community stakeholders to address the challenges of cell phone, social media, and technology use beyond the school setting.

Why Community Norms Matter

  • Aligning school-day policies with out-of-school norms creates consistency, helping students navigate technology responsibly across all aspects of their lives.
  • Involving staff, families, students, and community partners ensures shared responsibility and greater acceptance of expectations.
  • Community norms complement cell phone policies by fostering self-regulation and supporting social, emotional, and academic growth.

How Schools Can Lead

  • Schools serve as central hubs for establishing and modeling healthy digital habits.
  • By supporting community norms alongside cell phone policies, schools provide a balanced, holistic approach to student well-being.

CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE NORMS

While norms should be tailored to the specific needs of each community, strong norms share several key characteristics:

1. Clear: Norms should be easy to understand and short. Long paragraphs make it harder for people to find the point.

2. Actionable: Norms should establish clear and concrete expectations that families and community members can implement.

3.  Flexible: Norms should be adaptable, taking into account individual students’ needs and differing family circumstances.

4. Focused on Community and Belonging: Norms should affirm the community’s values and provide supportive guidelines for families. Norms are not required and the focus should not be on compliance. Rather, the goal is for communities to coalesce around shared values that motivate families to voluntarily follow the norms.

5. Brief: Fewer norms are better. It’s best to aim for between 5 and 10 norms that reflect the values of the community and address its greatest needs.

FRAMEWORK TO CREATE NORMS

This process can be following alongside the creation of community norms, after norms are in place, or as a completely separate initiative.

Schools may establish a small group of stakeholders to develop voluntary Community Norms for cell phone and social media use outside of the school, including at home and community settings. This group will also serve as a bridge between the school’s initiatives and the home and community settings. 

The group should ideally consist of 5-6 members, and it is strongly recommended to keep the total number under 10. This group may include a variety of stakeholders such as parents/guardians, educators, family engagement staff, school social workers, mental health counselors, and other community members (such as directors of afterschool or extracurricular programs).  

This group will help develop broader community buy-in for adopting norms, so their early commitment and engagement is critical. 

Leadership: Principal or school leadership appoints a chair/co-chairs to recruit members and oversee the process.

Steps:

  1. The school principal identifies the Advisory Group chair/co-chairs, who may be a parent, or school staff member. The chair’s responsibilities are to (a) recruit and form the Advisory Group; (b) plan and facilitate meetings of the Advisory Group; (c) lead the process of developing Community Norms; and (d) serve as a liaison with school leadership.
  2. The principal and chair develop high-level goals and milestones (i.e. decide when the Community Norms should be completed and shared with the broader community).
  3. The Advisory Group chair recruits other Advisory Group members through newsletters, emails, and school events such as back-to-school nights and open houses.
    • Ensure a diverse mix of parents and guardians across grades, cultures, languages, and perspectives.

    • Include interested staff, such as those in counseling, social work, or technology, as appropriate for your school and district.

    • Consider inviting local youth-serving organizations, after-school providers, and sports leagues to join, fostering broader community involvement.

  4. Schedule and create an agenda for your first meeting.

 

You are ready to move to Phase 2 when:

  • High-level goals have been clearly defined by school leadership (i.e. target date for completion and launch on Community Norms).
  • 5-10 people have committed to joining the Advisory Group.
  • The first meeting has been scheduled.

 

Note: A delay between Phase 1 and Phase 2 may lead to reduced engagement and participation, so it’s important to maintain momentum.

In Phase 2, the Advisory Group will explore the reasons and need for creating Community Norms and will set clear goals. The Advisory Group will review relevant research and information on the use of cell phones, social media, and other technology by young people to deepen their understanding of the issues.


Leadership: The chair of the Advisory Group will lead this effort and will collect background educational materials to share with the group.


Steps: At the first meeting, the Advisory Group should:

  1. Discuss common concerns of the group members regarding student use of cell phones, social media, and other technology outside of school hours, and review background research and information on these topics.
  2. Develop goals including what issues the group hopes to address through the Community Norms; and discuss desired outcomes.
  3. Decide how frequently the group will meet, and if the meetings will be held virtually or in-person.

 

You are ready to move to Phase 3 when:

  • Background research and educational materials have been shared and reviewed by the group.
  • Common concerns, desired outcomes, and goals have been clearly defined.
  • A consistent meeting cadence and schedule have been established.

 

Informed by conversations and input from phases 1 & 2, the Advisory Group will begin engaging and educating the broader school and local community on challenges facing young people related to cell phone, social media, and other technology use. 

Note: Don’t be discouraged if the first large community event doesn’t have a great turn out – it can take some time to build the habit of joining these kinds of events and word of mouth will help as time goes on.  

Leadership: The Advisory Group leads the effort, with support from school administrators for publicity and community engagement. 

Steps: 

  1. Select and share background materials from credible sources with the broader school community to inform all stakeholders about the impact of cell phones and social media on youth well-being. 
  2. Educate and engage the community in dialogue regarding these topics. Effective strategies to foster engagement may include: 
  3. Co-host with school officials virtual or in-person sessions to discuss specific topics related to cell phones, social media, and other technology use.  
  4. Organize screenings of relevant films. 
  5. Collaborate with neighboring school districts, libraries, nonprofits, or community groups to bring in guest speakers or co-host events (e.g., researchers, child psychologists, and school administrators, educators, parents, and youth from neighboring districts). 

 

You are ready to move to Phase 4 when: 

  • The Advisory Group’s work has gained visibility within the community. 
  • Education programs from Phase 2 have begun (but don’t need to be complete). 
  • Parents/guardians and community members have shown interest through attendance at educational sessions, engaging with emails, and signing up to participate in norm-setting discussions.

The next phase focuses on drafting the Community Norms and collecting feedback from the school community to ensure the norms reflect the community’s concerns.  

Leadership: The Advisory Group leads, with support from school administrators. 

Steps:  

The Advisory Group: 

  1. Drafts proposed Community Norms, reflecting the needs of the school community, in formats and languages appropriate for your community.  
  2. Shares the draft Community Norms with the principal or school leader for review and input.
  3. Distributes the revised draft to the entire school community via emails, newsletters, and other communication channels.
  4. Hosts virtual or in-person meetings to present the Community Norms, gather feedback, and address any questions.
  5. Incorporates feedback ensuring that the Community Norms continue to align with the goals outlined in phases 1 and 2. 

 

 You are ready to move to Phase 5 when: 

  • Community Norms have been drafted and shared with the community. 
  • Feedback has been gathered using a variety of communication channels (e.g. email, surveys, and/or virtual or in-person events) and incorporated. 

The final phase focuses on finalizing and clearly communicating the Community Norms throughout the community in formats and languages appropriate for the community. 

Leadership: The Advisory Group leads, with support from school administrators. 

Steps: 

  1. Share the final Community Norms with the principal or school leader for awareness. 
  2. Share final Community Norms widely via emails, newsletters, school events, and community meetings in languages appropriate for the community. 
  • Maintain open communication with the full school community.  
  • Gather feedback regularly to assess the Community Norms and address any concerns. 
  • Reinforce Community Norms by sharing reminders and tips, hosting additional educational sessions, and encouraging families to revisit the Community Norms throughout the year. 
  • Review and adjust the Community Norms as needed, maintaining alignment with the goals outlined by the Advisory Group. 
  • Communicate any changes to all stakeholders, as outlined in phase 4.