Government Enhances Support for Parents to Foster Healthy Digital Habits Among Children

1. The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has launched a comprehensive set of resources to support parents in fostering healthy digital habits in their children. Developed through consultation with parents, youths, and key partners including the Media Literacy Council, these resources cover four key actions:

• Set boundaries online
• Think before you act
• Report inappropriate content
• Engage & Support your child in their online journey

2. This set of resources follows the Ministry of Digital Development and Information’s (MDDI) release of the Digital Parenting Study¹ in September 2025, where Minister Josephine Teo and MOS Rahayu Mahzam committed to making digital parenting resources more action-oriented and accessible for parents, to help their child develop healthy digital habits.

3. Speaking at this year’s Digital for Life (DfL) Festival at Heartbeat@Bedok, Minister Josephine Teo urged parents to take an active role in shaping their child’s relationship with technology, highlighting that the foundation for healthy digital habits starts from home.

Four Healthy Digital Habits for Young Families

4. Many parents are concerned about their child's online activities. MDDI’s Digital Parenting Study revealed that nearly all parents were concerned about online harms or risk that their child may face while engaging in online activities, with exposure to inappropriate content being the top concern, followed by interactions with strangers online and cyberbullying. Although most parents reported taking steps to guide their child’s digital device usage, only 37% of them felt confident in their ability to guide their child’s digital habits. More than half of parents expressed a desire for more government support to help them manage their child’s digital activities.

5. In response to these concerns, the Government has identified four key actions that all families should adopt to foster healthy digital habits and keep their children safe and supported online – Set, Think, Report, and Engage & Support:

• Set boundaries online - Establish clear rules on when and how long devices can be used, help your child choose age-appropriate content and use parental controls.
• Think before you act – Teach your child to pause and consider what they see online, talk about how their social media posts and messages can affect others, and model positive online behaviour and device usage through your own actions.
• Report inappropriate content - Know how to report harmful content or suspicious online activity.
• Engage & Support your child in their online journey – Have regular conversations with your child about what they are doing online, listen without judgement when they share their experiences, and let them know they can always come to you if something online makes them feel uncomfortable or confused.

6. These four actions establish the foundation for children to develop healthy digital habits from an early age, paving the way for them to become discerning and responsible digital users.

‘Digital for Life’ Supports Parents in Guiding Their Children Through Their Digital Journey

7. IMDA’s new resources, developed around these four key actions, will be made available progressively on the DfL portal www.digitalforlife.gov.sg/online-safety and include bite-sized materials, such as videos, infographics, interactive tools and games. These resources are tailored to children’s different developmental stages and key digital milestones such as their first screen, first phone, and first social media account.

8. IMDA has also worked with partners across Singapore, under the national DfL movement, to provide practical tips on how to stay safe, smart and kind online through the DfL portal. One key resource is the Online Safety Digital Resource Kit, which was developed in collaboration with technology companies and recommends content and privacy settings, as well as reporting tools and community guidelines.

9. IMDA’s annual DfL Festival is a form of community touchpoint that also provides opportunities for parents to learn how to guide their children in the digital world, and for families to learn about healthy digital habits together. For example, booths at this year’s DfL Festival help children understand how to build healthy digital habits through games featuring popular characters at Nickelodeon’s showcase. Parents can learn how to guide their child on digital safety through hands-on activities and quizzes at Fei Yue Community Services’ showcase. The Festival also enables visitors to pick up digital skills including Generative AI and explore new digital technologies.

10. This year, the DfL Festival is held across two weekends at VivoCity (25 – 26 October 2025) and Heartbeat@Bedok (1 – 2 November 2025). The Festival features over 110 partners from the people, private and public sectors offering interactive experiences for Singaporeans of all ages, wherever they are in their digital learning journey. President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Patron of the DfL movement, graced the event today, hosted by Minister Josephine Teo.

11. At the Heartbeat@Bedok edition of the Festival, Minister Josephine Teo also launched the GGMobile, Singapore’s first gaming live-stream studio in a truck, by COMEBACK, which brings digital wellness and life-skills learning on the road to engage youths and families across the island.

A Whole-of-Society Approach to Children’s Digital Health

12. Building a digitally safe and inclusive Singapore for our children requires collective action from every segment of our society. The Government is committed to working alongside families, schools, healthcare providers, technology companies and community organisations in a shared mission to enable children to grow and thrive in the digital world with confidence, wisdom and resilience.