Council conclusions on promoting and protecting the mental health of children and adolescents in the digital era

The Council of the European Union firmly places mental health and psychology at the centre of its digital-era strategy: from promoting counselling and emotional skills, to embedding psychological safety in tech design, education, regulation, and community efforts. It calls for collaborative, evidence-based, and child-centred approaches—deeply informed by psychological science.

Here are the key recommendations from the Council Conclusions on promoting and protecting the mental health of children and adolescents in the digital era: 

1. Prioritise Mental Health & Psychological Support Acknowledge that “there is no health without mental health” and recognise the prevalence of early-onset mental disorders—affecting up to 20 % of children and 9 million adolescents in Europe. 
Promote access to psychological and psychosocial counselling, peer-support services, legal assistance, and digital safety support for young people, especially those exhibiting addiction-like digital use

2. Embed Psychology-informed Digital Design Urge designers and platforms to assess potential mental-health impacts of digital products and eliminate addictive or manipulative features (e.g., infinite scroll, dark patterns);
Call for transparent and independent mental-health impact assessments, sharing anonymised data with researchers to improve psychological safety

3. Integrate Mental Health and Psycho-social Skills in Education Advocate embedding mental health literacy, media and digital literacy, and social-emotional skills into school curricula.

4. Support Parents, Caregivers & Educators Psychologically Develop campaigns to help adults identify signs of digital addiction and mental distress in children, and provide tools for guidance and healthy digital hygiene. 
Provide age‑appropriate practical guidelines for adults covering psychological well-being, screen-time habits, parental controls, and responding to emotional issues . 

5. Enhance Psychological Research & Evidence‑based Action Support interdisciplinary research (neurobiology, psychology, psychiatry, addiction science) to better understand the psyche-digital interface. 
Fund and scale evidence-based interventions, and build expert advisory bodies to guide policy with psychological insight .

6. Strengthen Policy & Regulation With Psychological Lens.  Map current measures and harmonise EU-wide standards for guiding parents/educators on psychological aspects of digital use.