Healthy Childhood
Kids and families deserve a strong foundation of understanding, skills, and support.
Before kids can experience the benefits of media and technology, they need support from the adults in their lives to set healthy habits. Our partnerships within communities and schools put our research-backed advice in the hands of parents, educators, and caregivers. Through research, we can better understand tech's effects on kids' learning and development, and explore how representation in kids' media influences their understanding of themselves, their identities, and the world. Together, we can put essential supports in place for kids' mental and physical health, learning, and development so every kid has the chance to grow up happy, healthy, and able to fully participate in the world, today and tomorrow.
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See how we're supporting kids' healthy development
Research
Getting Help Online: How Young People Find, Evaluate, and Use Mental Health Apps, Online Therapy, and Behavioral Health Info
Online resources like social media, therapy, and apps are important sources of mental health support for young people. But our new report shows there's work to be done to make these tools as beneficial as possible.
Our Impact
12,000+ people
registered for the Tips by Text text message program in 2021. The program provides quick, research-backed tips in English and Spanish to help families leverage the power of media and tech for kids' learning and healthy development.
$1.9 trillion
Our Campaign for America's Children helped families across the country access the $1.9 trillion made available by the Child Tax Credit, which cut childhood poverty in half.
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Explore related work
Digital Equity
Access to technology—and the support and tools to use it—for kids, families, schools, and communities.
Digital Literacy and Citizenship
Habits and skills that give young people agency over their digital lives and help them succeed online and in life.
Tech Accountability
Public and private-sector reforms to safeguard privacy, minimize harm, and support healthy media and tech for all.
Media Choice
Reviews that make it easier to choose high-quality, age-appropriate, and diverse content for kids at home and in school.
Who we are
An independent voice for kids, families, and schools everywhere.
Common Sense is a nonprofit organization giving kids, families, and schools the tools to make informed choices about media and technology. Families know us for our independent, age-based reviews of movies, TV shows, books, games, and apps. Educators use our free curriculum and edtech reviews to plan lessons and integrate technology into their teaching practice. At our core, we are a children's advocacy group. We draw on original research, industry expertise, and community partnerships to advocate for laws and policies that help kids thrive.