WHO research on child and teen mental health gives us a starting point to understand the scale of the problem

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of screentime linked to double the risk of mental health problems such as depression and anxiety for children

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average time GenZ spends online per day

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children experience online exploitation every year

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of adolescents aged 13-17 said social media makes their mental health worse

Childhood is being redesigned in real time by technologies that were not built with child wellbeing in mind.

Digital technology is reshaping childhood at a scale and speed that demands a coordinated global response.

Digital technologies can be enormously beneficial to kids, but we need to take seriously the growing risks and harms that come with their use. For too long, we've accepted a "build fast and break things" approach that has often not prioritised child wellbeing, safety and mental health. We've minimized and normalized harms online that we would never accept offline.

We are at a moment when coordinated global action to ensure technology contributes to wellbeing has never been more urgent.

The relationship between technology and wellbeing needs urgent attention

Up to 95% of young people aged 13–17 report using a social media platform. Nearly two thirds use it every day; one third use it 'almost constantly’. This trend is continuing with a rapid uptake of AI companions and chatbots.

Teenagers spending 4+ hours of daily screen time are more than twice as likely to experience anxiety (27% vs. 12%) or depression (26% vs. 10%). And over half of U.S. teens (50%) report this level of use.

The relationship between technology and wellbeing is not simple, and it is not uniform. But what is clear is the need for urgent, coordinated attention to address the scale of tech’s influence on childhood, and the pace at which it is accelerating.

The evidence on the impacts of digital technology on child wellbeing is real and growing — but it is also deeply uneven. Most research comes from high-income countries; children under twelve are critically understudied; and research is moving too slowly to keep pace with AI. The field-wide response remains fragmented, and the tools, policies and interventions needed to improve outcomes at scale do not yet exist in coordinated form.

The solution

We need to understand the connections between these trends, and we need to build the tools to ensure children are thriving online. Safe Online’s new initiative weaves child wellbeing into the fabric of technology. TestCMS will shape how children grow with technology by raising and investing $100 million over the next 5 years, with a long-term ambition to build a $1 billion Fund that fosters a digital world that centres wellbeing. TestCMS is built for the scale of what digital technology has already become in children’s lives.

TestCMS will build coalitions to influence policy, drive legislative change and support meaningful action across the technology sector. We will lead and facilitate scientific evidence generation and sharing alongside building a more productive and coherent research ecosystem. We will use this momentum to drive the development of new tools that will be rolled out globally. Our tools will be embedded in national tech systems and standards around safe and wellbeing focused design will be taken up by technology actors, building a digital world where children are thriving online.