The vast majority of teens are reaching out to parents, friends, siblings, and other trusted people in their lives after experiencing online risk, according to new research – a very positive development. But findings also show that teens remain less forthcoming when faced with more personal challenges online, including sexual risks and self-harm.   

Seven in 10 teens (71%) aged 13 to 17 in six countries said they sought help or spoke with someone after being exposed to an online risk, like unwanted contact or online bullying. That compares to 68% who said they reached out after an online incident last year, and a low of 59% in 2023. And, when risk exposure involved threats from others, like catfishing ¹ and grooming ², an even higher percentage of teens (84%) said they spoke to someone, a 10-percentage point jump from 2024. Moreover, nearly nine in 10 parents of 13-to-19-year-olds (88%) said their teens approached them directly about digital challenges, up from 86% in each of the three prior years. Yet, when faced with sexual risks, violent extremist content, and self-harm, fewer teens approached their parents, leaving adults to discover these types of teens’ struggles on their own or from someone else. 

The findings are part of a five-year study Snap is undertaking into digital well-being among Generation Z in Australia, France, Germany, India, the UK, and the U.S. We poll teens (aged 13-17), young adults (aged 18-24), and parents of 13-to-19-year-olds about young people’s online risk exposure. The 2025 survey was conducted between April 29 and May 1, and included 9,037 respondents across the three age demographics and six geographies. Snap commissions this research each year, but it covers Gen Z’s experiences across all online platforms and services, with no specific focus on Snapchat.

We are releasing these results in conjunction with World Kindness Day 2025 to encourage parents, caregivers, and other trusted adults to conduct regular digital check-ins with the Gen Zers in their lives. Ask questions about online friends and activities; strike up conversations highlighting sound digital habits and practices; explore Snap's new, interactive online safety learning course, The Keys; and, to help supervise the online activities of younger teens in particular, sign up for Snapchat’s Family Center.  

The Keys: A Guide to Digital Safety 

Launched this September, The Keys is an interactive online safety learning program designed specifically for teens and their parents. What makes the program unique is that it goes beyond awareness-raising, and helps teens build practical skills by addressing head-on some of the most challenging situations they may face online – like bullying and harassment, illicit drug activity, nudes and intimate imagery, and sexual extortion.

Our goal for The Keys is to have as many teens as possible take the course, and pledge to make smart choices online for themselves and others. Ideally, they would take the course alongside a parent, caregiver, or other trusted adult to spark meaningful dialogue and unpack some sensitive issues together. We want to help equip teens with the knowledge and skills to recognize risks and to instill in them the confidence they need to take action to help protect themselves. Learn more at thekeys.snapchat.com. 

Family Center

Family Center is Snapchat’s suite of parental tools that offers parents, caregivers, and other trusted adults insight into their teens’ friends and activities on Snapchat, while keeping the teens’ actual messages private. Launched in 2022, Family Center allows parents to see who their teens are friends with on Snapchat and who they have been communicating with over the last seven days, without disclosing the content of the young person’s messages. A key goal of Family Center was balance – balancing teens’ need for privacy at a critical juncture in their personal development, while offering parents insight into their teens’ Snapchat friends and recency of communications. 

Since Family Center’s release, we’ve continued to add new features and functionality, including the ability for adults to disable teens’ ability to engage with My AI, Snapchat’s conversational chatbot; request and see a teen’s location on the Snap Map; and see the teen’s birthdate and birth year that they entered when they registered for Snapchat. We even lowered the minimum age to 18 for an adult to be connected with a teen on Snapchat, paving the way for older siblings, cousins, and other family members (who might be more comfortable with Snapchat) to “have a teen’s back” on the app. 

From World Kindness Day to Safer Internet Day

In less than three months, we will mark the 22nd anniversary of international Safer Internet Day (SID). On SID 2026, we will release the full results of our 2025 digital well-being study. Until then, we encourage teens, parents, and other adults to leverage the tools and resources we provide – in-app and online – to help foster a global culture of online safety, creativity, and connection on Snapchat and across digital spaces. 

-Jacqueline Beauchere, Global Head of Platform Safety