Mental Health PlaybookScreen Sanity
- Geographic: National (with an international affiliate in Australia)
- Mission: We seek to equip parents as mentors and guides so kids can grow up happy and healthy in an increasingly digital world.
- People Served: Parents and caregivers, health care providers, social workers
- Operating Budget: $845,000
- Focus Areas and Core Competencies:
- To equip parents, educators and communities with tools to navigate digital well-being and foster screen-smart families.
- To deliver evidence-informed programs that spark real-life conversations, reduce tech-driven digital conflict and promote healthy tech habits.
Impact Statement
Since 2018, Screen Sanity has been a trailblazer in digital health and well-being. The organization has reached more than 4.5 million website visitors across 145 countries, delivering support to over 50,000 families, educators and health professionals through programs and toolkits that provide practical tips for navigating tech with confidence and connection.
A Conversation with Tracy Foster, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Screen Sanity
Q: What is the mission of your organization? What specific areas related to mental health challenges is your nonprofit working to solve?
At Screen Sanity, we believe kids should grow up captivated by real life interactions and experiences, not screens. Today, unhealthy screen habits are fueling a youth mental health crisis, with anxiety, depression, loneliness and even suicide on the rise. Teens spend more time online than ever and often at the expense of sleep, play and connection. Research shows a clear link between screen overuse and declining mental health. And for teen girls in particular, the surge in self-harm and suicidal ideation has paralleled the explosion of social media.
Caregivers know something is wrong but feel ill-equipped to respond. Parents, teachers and pediatricians alike tell us they don’t know how much screen time is too much, when to give a child a phone or how to talk about these issues without conflict. Families are navigating a digital world without a roadmap, and too many feel they are doing it alone.
That is where we come in. Screen Sanity provides practical, research-informed tools that build healthy digital habits and foster open conversations. Whether through home discussions, school workshops or community events, our work transforms concern into confidence. We help families set boundaries, maximize what’s good about technology and raise kids who thrive both online and off.
Q: How do you describe the big goals your organization is working to achieve? How do you measure impact?
Screen Sanity’s greatest goal is to create real change for kids by equipping their parents and trusted adults. Through gatherings that are welcoming and inspiring, we help caregivers build confidence in guiding their children toward healthy digital practices, ensuring families can enjoy the benefits of technology while minimizing its harms.
Our work gives parents the resources and community they need to step into the ring when it comes to technology and raise kids who are more captivated by life than screens. We aim to shift family habits in meaningful ways by delaying the age kids get smartphones and social media, reducing the number of children who sleep with a phone in their bedroom and fostering more device-free meals and meaningful connection.
We measure our impact both quantitatively and qualitatively by drawing on surveys and feedback from pediatric providers, school leaders and faith leaders. The results show families experiencing greater confidence and competence in shaping their use of technology rather than being driven by it.
Parents report more and better conversations with their kids, expanded networks of relational support and stronger community norms around digital wellness. Recognizing that cultural change requires collective effort, we see equipping parents and caregivers as a key way to spark a movement where healthier digital habits lead to stronger families and thriving children.
Q: What are some of the biggest challenges the organization has experienced working to accomplish its mission? How did your organization overcome those challenges?
Compared to other community challenges, the role of technology in mental health and overall well-being is broad and still relatively new, leaving many stakeholders less familiar with both the problems and the solutions. Our greatest challenge is raising awareness so families can receive proactive support and so large-scale organizations and partners see the importance of investing in this work.
Awareness is growing as research expands, but many families and leaders remain unaware of the tools available. We often hear, “This is exactly what I was looking for! How did I not know this existed?” That feedback shows the need is not only for resources, but also for visibility. To address this, we seek funding for public outreach that ensures families can access the support and hope they’re actively searching for.
Because digital wellness sits at the intersection of technology, mental health and education, it falls outside traditional funding categories. Few funders are currently positioned to lead in this space, though the potential for sustained, wide-scale impact is significant.
Q: What are your organization’s biggest needs? How can philanthropists help your organization achieve its goals?
We are at a pivotal moment for our organization as we shift from early-stage momentum into a phase of intentional scale. One of our strategic steps in scaling will be upgrading our marketing and public outreach capabilities to bring more awareness to the issue and our educational offerings to more parents and community partners. Another key step is enhancing our offerings to meet even more parent and partner demand (e.g., provide an experience for a smaller group event, adapt content to meet parents’ concerns around AI).
Q: Beyond the organization, where should philanthropists who care about advancing knowledge related to improving mental health invest their charitable dollars?
There is no shortage of worthy investment opportunities in the mental health and digital wellness space. Organizations often distinguish themselves by who they serve including parents, kids, educators, institutions or tech companies, and how they intervene, from prevention to remediation.
At Screen Sanity, we believe parents and caregivers are the most effective change agents in a child’s digital life. We encourage philanthropists to invest upstream, equipping families before harm occurs. Groups like Common Sense Media and Fairplay already provide excellent evidence-based resources to support this work.
At the same time, there is a gap in youth-focused programming, where groups such as Defend Young Minds, Half the Story and Design It For Us are pioneering promising models.
A healthy digital future depends on investing in families, empowering young people directly and supporting both preventative and restorative solutions.
Contact Our Team
Contact the Roundtable’s Programs team to learn more about this investment opportunity.