Authored by Jeremy
Mentor, Digital Wellness Lab 2025-26 Student Advisory Council
So my family recently just bought a toaster. And none of us read the manual!
Why would we? We know how it works. You slide in a piece of bread, wait a moment, and up pops a neatly-browned slice. Simple enough.
Now what if this toaster is a bit trickier? Almost all the time it gives you perfect toast, but occasionally it’ll give you burned toast, and on very rare circumstances… it explodes.
And then you give this toaster to your kid. Well that’s kind of what we are doing when we give kids digital devices. Almost all the time it’s great, but occasionally problems arise, and on very rare circumstances, something bad can happen.
Of course you’d want to read the manual! Educating yourself about different scenarios that could happen and your possible responses are the best way to avoid issues. Using an unpredictable toaster is similar to the online experience. Though online communities offer entertainment and social networks to all, occasionally, bad actors are drawn to do the wrong thing and we get burned.
As a teen, what and where are the manuals to the internet? Here are a few examples:
- Proactive programs like Born This Way Foundation’s Be There Certificate help spread kindness and understanding through all communities, especially ones online. It taught me how I can be supportive and set boundaries—which can sometimes be tough due to the anonymity of digital communities.
- Similarly we have NAMLE’s Core Principles of Media Literacy Education, teaching institutions that literacy education is essential for citizenship—not optional. Media literacy “encourages learners to practice active inquiry, reflection, and critical thinking about the messages they experience, create, and share across the ever-evolving media landscape.” We sometimes learn this in the classroom. It taught me analyzing how information is constructed, identifying bias, and understanding the power of media institutions is a required skill. Especially in an ever-growing online world where youth need to be equipped to navigate social media properly and healthily. This is part of the manual which tells you how to keep the toaster nice, functioning, and shiny.
- Then you have programs like Snapchat’s The Keys that teach you and your families what to do if you smell smoke. With videos and interactive quizzes covering real-life scenarios, The Keys focuses on digital literacy plus four common online dangers (Bullying & Harassment, Intimate Images & Nudes. Online Drug Activity & Fentanyl Poisoning, and Sextortion) and specific actions to take if these dangers occur. This initiative is a practical reminder that digital safety isn’t only keeping danger at bay. It’s about knowing how to proactively protect ourselves and others.
With The Keys in particular, we shift the conversation from vague “be careful online” messaging to something more operational: here’s what to look for, here’s what it means, and here’s what you can do right now. This comprehensiveness and practical, clear-cut sheet of instructions is what will prepare tweens and teens for any online scenario—kind of how a toaster’s manual doesn’t just tell you what the toaster does, it tells you how not to burn your house down. The Keys positions digital wellbeing as a shared responsibility, not a solo task, by showing how individual choices ripple outward through friends, group chats, and communities. In an everchanging landscape, The Keys leans on clarity and agency so you and your families learn the threats, tools and responses.
Snap is one of the signatories to the Digital Wellness Lab’s Inspired Internet Pledge. It’s aimed at making the internet a healthier place for young people using the Pledge’s principles of emotional wellbeing, listening, and sharing. This encourages social media companies to publish their own educational initiatives and responses to possible online dangers.
Overall, I propose we expand our digital literacy education even further. Manuals work best when we know about them and read them repeatedly. Maybe we need to build further awareness through parents/guardians, schools, and the community. We need a culture that requires guidance before action—a world where young people don’t have to piece together their safety by trial and error. We can’t expect teens to navigate a system as unpredictable as the internet without first giving them some guidelines like The Keys.
I hope more youth and their families and schools will use these resources and read them over and over again. If someone asked what is my hope for the future of social media in a single phrase, I’d answer…
Perfectly toasted.
Jeremy is a mentor for the Digital Wellness Lab’s 2025-2026 Student Advisory Council. He is a high school senior in Carlsbad, California.
The author of this article is a young person who has been engaging with the Digital Wellness Lab about topics of young people’s safety and wellbeing within digital environments. Here at the Lab, we welcome different viewpoints and perspectives. However, the opinions and ideas expressed here do not necessarily represent the views, research, or recommendations of the Digital Wellness Lab, Boston Children’s Hospital, or affiliates.