Youth Co-Designers Reflect: Why Schools Should Take Students Seriously

Co-design goes beyond surveying young people or simply including them in conversations. True co-design recognizes young people as capable problem-solvers who can develop powerful solutions to the challenges they experience regularly. Digital Promise recently brought together engaged youth, ages 14–18, to take part in a structured co-design process on the topic of digital well-being.

Below, our co-designers reflect on their experience and share advice for other youth, school leaders, and adults looking for new approaches to common challenges including technology overreliance and mental health concerns.

What would you recommend to a school leader about co-design?

Oliver: Young people have a lot of influence and insight when it comes to policies and technology, and they can play an important role in co-designing solutions.

Valentina: It’s key that school leaders actually listen to students, not just ask for feedback and then leave it at that. We should have real chances to help shape decisions in the school, whether about policies, programs, or even the environment. It’s about making sure students’ voices are heard and really acted on, not just checked off a list. Creating ways for students to get involved regularly—through surveys, discussions, or projects—could make a big difference.

Samanvi: The main point of co-design, in my opinion, is to gather perspectives from different people. You want different ideas bouncing around. Bring together people from different grade levels and people with different interests. Even if you’re talking to young people, if all those young people are in the same demographic, then you’re not getting a well-rounded idea. Whatever solutions or ideas you come up with, they’re not going to be as realistic as if you had talked to a bunch of people who are really different.

What would you tell other young people who have the chance to be part of co-design work?

Oliver: Always try to speak up because people really value your perspective. Usually when co-designing, you are one of the few people in the room, and what you say influences the outcome.

Samanvi: Don’t be afraid to tell people what you’re thinking, because even if you have an idea that you think is trivial, in somebody else’s eyes the idea might sound really interesting and be really impactful. That goes both ways as well. Co-design lets you hear other people’s new ideas and perspectives.

Valentina: I think students need to take co-design seriously. It’s not about just sharing opinions. It’s about working together to make things better. We have to be open to different ideas, and at the same time, feel comfortable challenging things that aren’t working. We should be able to speak up and suggest better ways to do things. It’s not just about fixing things now but about growing and developing skills— like teamwork, problem solving, and communication—while making a real difference. Co-design gives us the opportunity to help create the kind of school we want to be part of, and I think we should really take advantage of that.

Isha: I would also tell other young people to try to engage in conversations with other people—even outside of the others in the co-design group—so that you get a good idea of what’s going on in your own community.

What’s one change you hope to see in how adults and schools approach digital well-being after this project?

Oliver: I hope that adults and schools understand that technology policies focused on banning technology may not be addressing underlying issues. There is a lot more complexity that can’t be addressed just by banning technology. It’s one approach that can be used, but adults and schools must be aware of other factors at play and how they impact the implementation of the policy.

Isha: Phones in classrooms, and technology in general, is seen as a taboo thing. There are more and more restrictions put on technology rather than teaching young people how to use it effectively and not get trapped in the dopamine rush that can come with scrolling. I’m hoping that we can learn how to use technology as a tool rather than restrict it as something bad.

Samanvi: I agree they should focus less on restricting tech and more on helping people build boundaries and balance. People need their phones to call people, and they need technology for all sorts of things. If you just say “You can’t use that at all,” that’s not going to work for anybody.

Annabelle: I think that it just needs to be talked about more. We talked about this in one of our first meetings: How can we make digital well-being an “aesthetic” so it becomes a fad, even online? It needs to become something that teens want to do in order to kind of push against that conformity, you know, using the algorithm against itself.

There’ve been so many students here at our school that I’ve talked with, and they don’t realize the harm that social media is having on them. We need to be looking at the people who are interacting with young people–the teachers, school administrators, and parents/guardians especially. These are the people that can really put good structures in place for young people’s well-being.

What is something that you’re taking away from this experience?

Isha: Being able to collaborate with and learn from people who are very focused on this topic and are so well-spoken has been such an amazing opportunity.

Annabelle: I have a really strong passion for advocacy and specifically sharing my opinion that technology and social media is not helping teens. However, living in a rural area, I don’t see this same passion a lot. So, interacting with other students in this group was incredible. Being able to hear that other people also think the same way that I do and believe some of the same things was really amazing.

Samanvi: In elementary school and middle school, people have definitely talked about technology and how to use it. But that was really just a teacher giving us a quick lecture. We would do a worksheet, and then the topic was done with. With these sessions, I got to talk to other people, including students, and I think the issues surrounding social media and technology felt a lot more real. Whereas earlier, it was just something I was sort of hearing about. Now, I see that it’s an issue that impacts people, and I feel the same way about this as other people do. So, it definitely feels like something bigger.

Read the full report to learn more about the co-design process and findings.

Check out another conversation with youth co-designers for their thoughts on healthy tech habits, and download the card game they designed.