"DIGITAL MEDIA AND THE DEVELOPING MIND" CONFERENCE:  While  IDMCD is only two years old, it has already captured the attention of the National Academy of Sciences and, in 2015, will organize in Irvine, California to:.

 

• Bring together over 250 researchers from a broad range of disciplines to learn and exchange ideas on the cognitive, mental, physical and social impacts of digital media on youth, families, culture and learning. 

• Identify and report on state-of-the-art research on the impact of digital media on developing minds i.e. children and adolescents.

• Establish a dialogue between medical researchers and those in the social sciences who study media effects; educators, funders and industry, and put new medically-based research techniques to use studying the potential impact of media use on children’s developing minds. 

• Set the agenda for future research needed and support seed funding for collaborative, interdisciplinary research immediately following the conference.

 

 

This conference is the first step toward IDMCD’s goal of:

• Establishing "best practices" in the design of games, cell phones, social networks, advertising etc. directed to children.

• Developing a consensus statement on what is a healthy media diet and guidelines for parents on how to raise happy, healthy children and disseminating this information to the public.

• Establishing a broad foundation for this field, encouraging and supporting research through seed funding, and encouraging more doctoral students to go into the field.