At Snap, we believe that promoting a safe and supportive environment is essential to helping young people connect, express themselves, and thrive. As we close out Mental Health Awareness Month, we know that supporting our community's emotional and psychological well-being isn't just a 31-day checkbox, it's a year-round commitment that requires consistent attention and collaborative effort.

To help spark conversations that should be taking place throughout the calendar year, we are introducing Digital Wellness Check. This new video blog series will feature conversations with prominent global experts and industry leaders exploring what digital well-being looks like for teens today, and how we can work together to build online spaces where they can truly flourish.

Our very first instalment brings together Jacqueline Beauchere, Snapchat's Global Head of Platform Safety, and Dr. Dan Reidenberg, a world-renowned authority on suicide prevention and the Founder and Director of Safe Online Standards at The Mental Health Coalition.

To help build safer and healthier online environments, we must first understand the authentic, everyday experiences of young people online. For the last five years, Snap has conducted dedicated research to track and measure Generation Z's online psychological well-being through our Digital Well-Being Index (DWBI).

The DWBI is an objective contribution to the broader digital ecosystem, expanding the evidentiary knowledge base and raising awareness of issues and concerns so all stakeholders can work to mitigate online risk, reduce harm, and prevent recurrence. Our data consistently shows that the digital world does not exist in a vacuum. A teen's digital well-being is heavily influenced by a ‘whole picture’ view of their life, encompassing offline factors like academic stress, family dynamics, global anxiety, and whether they have a strong support system.

Tune in as Jacqueline and Dr. Dan discuss how the public dialogue surrounding youth mental health and technology has shifted. Dr. Dan cautions that much of the current conversation has become driven by fear and media hype rather than data, noting that a fear-based approach ultimately inhibits progress and keeps young people from flourishing.

The conversation focuses on the importance of shifting back to a reality-based framework, grounded on practical digital literacy, personal control, and establishing healthy boundaries.

What it Covers: Jacqueline Beauchere introduces the inaugural episode of Digital Wellness Check alongside Dr. Dan Reidenberg. Together, they discuss where industry, policymakers and families should be focused when it comes to the mental well-being of teens in our 21st century digital world. Namely, away from a media-hyped, fear-based mentality toward an objective, reality-based framework. Dr. Dan explains that moving teens from simply getting by online to genuinely thriving and flourishing requires helping them maintain personal control, recognising boundaries, and communicating openly without the fear.

What it Covers: This segment centres on practical, actionable guidance for families and teens navigating digital safety. Dr. Dan provides a roadmap for what to do when a friend is struggling online, emphasising immediate, authentic peer outreach and the importance of bringing in trusted support systems or using platform reporting tools to share the emotional burden. The discussion also tackles the concept of online "quality versus quantity", exploring how quality interactions matter far more than total screen time.