Earlier this year, we announced the selection of Snap’s inaugural Council for Digital Well-Being, a pilot program in the U.S. designed to hear from teens on the state of life online today, as well as their hopes and ideals for more positive and rewarding online experiences. In May, we officially kicked off Council activities, and we are excited to introduce this thoughtful and engaging group. 

The Council for Digital Well-Being is made up of 18 teens from 12 states across the U.S.: 

• Alex, 15 years old from Texas 

• Ana, 13 years old from Wisconsin

• Brielle, 14 years old from Colorado 

• Dinu, 16 years old from New Jersey 

• Jahan, 14 years old from Pennsylvania

• Jaylynn, 16 years old; Phoebe, 15 years old; Valentina, 14 years old from New York 

• Jeremy, 16 years old; Josh, 14 years old; Katelynn, 15 years old; Mona, 16 years old; Ovee, 14 years old from California

• Max, 15 years old from Washington

• Monish, 17 years old from Illinois

• Nadine, 16 years old from Virginia 

• Salsabeel, 15 years old from Florida 

• Tommy, 16 years old from Vermont

Since May, we’ve held two cohort calls to discuss the program and the Council Members’ aspirations for it, establish group norms, and raise various online safety-related topics, including, for example, the Surgeon General’s recent call for warning labels on social media. What we've heard consistently from the Council Members is the value of peer advice on navigating online experiences, noting that teens “want to take charge of our own lives” instead of continually relying on others.

In July, we invited the Council Members and their chaperones to Snap HQ in Santa Monica, CA, for an in-person summit. It was a jam-packed couple of days, full of breakout sessions, full-group discussions, guest speakers, and a lot of fun bonding time. The teens also got a better sense of what it’s like to work at a technology company through a “speed-mentoring” session with 18 of our Snap colleagues representing different roles and teams. 

The Summit yielded very interesting conversations and insights on topics such as online pitfalls, parental tools, and the differences and similarities between digital and in-person social dynamics. By the end of our time together, the full group, chaperones included, was extremely motivated to be more involved in their own local communities and to act as ambassadors for online safety. This quote from a Council Member accurately reflects the ethos we all felt: “[A]lthough…parents and teens may not see eye-to-eye on every issue regarding social media, we are in agreement that we want to work and support each other to become the best versions of ourselves digitally that we can be.”

We will soon share our key takeaways from the Summit and what the Council Members have planned moving ahead. Stay tuned to continue to hear more from this dynamic group!

- Viraj Doshi, Platform Safety Lead