about

Nearfield is the Space Closest to the Source

before sound is distorted, where nuance is rich

Our Mission

To listen closely to youth and translate what we hear into understanding that the people shaping their lives can use.

Vision

A world where the systems shaping young people's lives are informed by a deeper understanding of their lived experiences with technology.

How We Listen

The Scroll-Through Interview

Our listening method is responsive, intentional, and honed across years of youth advisory. Inspired by the social media scroll-back method, a teen guides our interviewer through their apps, AI chats, and social media feeds in real time. The aim isn't just to see what they do on their screens, it's to see it as they do. Time and again, we learn about the hidden details of teens’ digital worlds and how different they are from what adults imagine.

Young People as Co-Creators

We work with young people iteratively and in ongoing ways. Our youth research assistants are collaborators and trusted advisors. They shape our interview guides, suggest the questions worth asking, and co-interpret what emerges alongside us. Our youth participants are co-interpreters too. We go back to them to revisit our interpretations of their stories and the themes we hear from others, as well as to learn about what’s changing. We work in participatory ways by design, so we can understand what adults may otherwise miss or misunderstand.

Listening Loops

We listen with distinct youth populations over time, following up to trace how their experiences evolve. This way, young people who often feel left out of the mainstream conversation are clearly represented.

The Process

Magic chasing, sensemaking, and storytelling that surfaces the texture of teens’ experiences with tech as they unfold.

Magic Chasing

Something repeats. A thread we keep hearing from young people, or a perspective the wider conversation is missing.

Investigating

We pressure-test it, going back to youth with sharper questions and checking it against research and the field.

Sensemaking

We find the pattern, and the youth voices that carry it, and interpret what it means through a developmental lens.

Sharing

We share insight where it's needed most, to support researchers, funders, and other caring adults who want to listen with us.

Discovery

We shape it into a memo or resource built to move people: to think differently, ask better questions, and act.

A small team of researchers and storytellers, we listen to young people with care and curiosity. Nearfield is proudly incubated at In Tandem.

Dr. Emily Weinstein

Founder · Social Scientist · Author · Listener

our founder

Chrystal Koech

Strategist · Builder · Creative

our coo

Lauren Palazzo

Communicator · Strategist · Amplifier

word nerd

Jacqueline Vickery

Community Educator · Researcher · Youth Advocate

turophile

Maria Maza

Researcher · Youth Advocate

food fiend

Our Collaborators

We're grateful to be alongside such good company.

Thank you to our founding funders at Pivotal, who make this work possible.

Close-up of several dandelion seed heads in a field with grass and plants, shown in a pink monochrome tone.

Too often, technology is the main character in the story of teens and tech.

But as our founder Dr. Emily Weinstein has learned across more than 15 years of research, the reality is far more interesting in young people's own words. They tell us tech is sometimes a supporting character, sometimes an antagonist, and other times just a footnote in their lives. Nearfield treats young people as narrators of their own stories. Then we translate their lived experience into insights, memos, and public goods — the kind researchers, funders, and other caring adults can use to better support them in a tech-filled world.