WHO WE ARE
Human Change is a coalition of parents, advocates, educators, psychologists, paediatricians, clinicians, and researchers who are raising the alarm about the dangers of digital devices and social media to children’s health and development.
The Human Change Foundation is a global advocacy campaign that strives to reshape the global narrative on children’s and adolescents’ mental health and effective life-skills-development by spotlighting the impact of social media, digital devices and AI-exposure on children’s and adolescents’ healthy development.
Founded by Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, in her personal capacity, the Human Change initiative was launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2024. The Human Change House at the World Economic Forum hosted a series of 12 powerful panel discussions. These sessions brought together international experts in psychology, medicine, business, government and more to debate the issues and solutions around how social media and digitalization are causing irreversible change in children, and how this change will impact the future of our society.
“We are now 11 years into the largest epidemic of adolescent mental illness ever recorded. The replacement of human connection by digital connectivity via social media and digital devices isolates children from their families and deprives them of the feeling of belonging. We must urgently change this.”
Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, Founder of Human Change
HUMAN CHANGE TESTIMONIALS
Dr Mitch Prinstein
Chief Science Officer, American Psychological Association
“You probably already know that kids are spending a remarkable amount of time on their devices and on social media. But what you might not know is that psychological science has revealed that in many countries across the world, at least 50% of kids are experiencing one or more symptoms of clinical dependency on their devices. They’re having a hard time stopping using them even when they want to.”
Dr Jim Winston
Trustee, Winston Family Foundation
“Smartphones are strategically designed to capture and hold attention. They’re pulling for us all the time. They’re not neutral devices. They’re architecturally constructed to be hyper stimulating with a nearly limitless supply of digital stimuli in a parallel universe that has enormous addictive potential.”
HUMAN CHANGE COLLABORATIONS
Human Change are proud to be collaborating with numerous partners to put the digitalisation of children’s lives on the global agenda and enact change among families, educators, and policy makers.
We are proud to have launched our partnership with UEFA in April 2024 at the UEFA child and youth protection workshop in Slovenia. We will continue our collaboration helping to equip football associations, clubs, and leagues with evidence-based tools and information on this topic.