Hawk-eyed Indian parents ensure digital well-being of GenZ kids, says Snapchat research

• India registered the highest digital well-being by country at 68, indicating an overall positive social media experience for Gen Zs.
  
• India topped the charts due to greater parent engagement and number of support assets.
  
• Greater vigil by parents also ensures GenZ teens and adults alike, when they experience online harassment of any kind, will turn to them for any help.
  

All the digital vigilantism of Indian parents seems to have borne fruit as the country’s GenZ teens and adults – aged between 13 and 24 – come out at the top of the digital wellbeing index (DWI) compiled by Snapachat.

India topped the charts amongst six countries that were part of the research. This is due to greater parent engagement and number of support assets – teachers, friends, mentors and a stronger social network, says Snapchat’s inaugural report named 2022 Digital Well-Being Index.

India registered the highest DWI by country at 68, indicating an overall positive social media experience for Gen Zs. The index is calculated by measuring the impact of online activities gauged across positive and negative emotions, engagements, relationships and achievements.

The impact of being online is divided into four categories – flourishing (extremely positive), thriving (mostly positive), middling (mixed-bag reactions) and struggling (negative impact due to social media).

India had the highest percentage of flourishing and thriving respondents, with greater returns on their social media presence due to measured but impactful involvement of their parents, as per the report.

“The subset of parents who did not regularly check in about teens’ online experiences significantly underestimated teens’ risk exposure to online harassment (by nearly 20-points),” the report said.

India was followed by the US, Australia, United Kingdom, France and Germany.

“Less than one in five French parents checked in with teens about their online activities. France has the lowest proportion of thriving and flourishing respondents. Indian teens stand out for having wealth of support assets. Germany has the highest percent of struggling GenZ population. France has the highest percentage of middling,” Snapchat revealed.

India at high risk for teen exposure to online bullying

Indian GenZs spend between 2-4 hours online everyday and are exposed to many risks out there – online harassment, purposeful embarrassment, fake news, sexual solicitation, thoughts of self-harm and name calling.

Despite India having the highest number of flourishing and thriving participants due to being online, it is important for parents and social networks to keep a check on these high achievers.

Globally, one in seven GenZ participants had thought of self-harm. Even though incidence of self-harm decreased with high DWI, the ones with high DWI would be more likely to follow through on the thought of self-harm due to high performance pressure, Snapchat reported.

“Our digital well-being research yielded findings about Gen Z’s exposure to online risks, their relationships, particularly with their parents, and their reflections about their activities over the preceding months,” said Jacqueline Beauchere, global head of platform safety at Snapchat.

More GenZs turned to their moms instead of their dads for emotional support. Snapchat revealed the ability of parents to accurately estimate the extent of their teen’s digital well-being was driven by parents checking in regularly.

Greater vigil by parents also ensures GenZ teens and adults alike, when they experience online harassment of any kind, will turn to them for any help. An estimated 52% of GenZs sought help from parents after experiencing a risk of online bullying, non-consensual image sharing, trolling, threats and more.

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