PUBLISHED ONNovember 01, 2025 6:08 AMBYMelissa Teo With the prevalence of social media and reliance on technology, it's more crucial than ever for young children to develop healthy digital habits.
As such, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has launched a comprehensive set of resources to help parents guide their children on how to use technology responsibly.
These were introduced during the fourth edition of the Digital for Life (DfL) Festival at Heartbeat@Bedok on Nov 1, which was hosted by Josephine Teo, Minister for Digital Development and Information, and graced by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Patron of the Digital for Life movement.
This year, the DfL Festival was held across two weekends, at VivoCity (Oct 25 to 26) and Heartbeat@Bedok (Nov 1 to 2), featuring over 110 partners from the people, private and public sectors and offering interactive experiences for Singaporeans of all ages.
The annual event is a form of community touchpoint that 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 instance, booths at this year's festival helped children understand how to build healthy digital habits through games featuring popular characters at Nickelodeon's showcase.
Parents learned through hands-on activities and quizzes at Fei Yue Community Services' showcase too.
The event also enabled visitors to pick up digital skills such as generative AI, as well as explore new digital technologies.
During the event, 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.
"I think the most important feature of the Digital to Life festival in 2025 is the focus on parenting in the digital age. It is an issue of great concern, so much so that Prime Minister Lawrence Wong chose to talk about it during the National Day Rally earlier this year," Teo said.
"Our study suggests to us that most parents are definitely concerned about what their children do online, but less than 40 per cent of them feel confident about giving their children the guidance, and so through our Digital for Life Festival, we hope to start them on the journey of becoming more confident."
She shared that the way to do so is by introducing parents to more resources to help them appreciate what some of the parental controls that they can implement are, as well as the kind of relationship parents should be building with their children in order to sustain a level of guidance for the kids as they engage online.
"Of course, this is just the start of it, it's not the end of it. There are also many other kinds of engagements that we are planning with parents that will reach into the heartlands and also meet parents where they are," said Teo.
"This could be through the schools, as well as through other avenues that we know tend to attract many parents."
Through a parenting study by the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI), it was revealed that nearly all respondents were concerned about online harms or risks that their child may face while engaging in online activities.
Exposure to inappropriate content was 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 per cent of them felt confident in their ability to guide their child's digital habits. More than half of the parents also expressed a desire for more government support to help them manage their child's digital activities.
In response to these concerns, the government has identified four key actions that families should adopt to foster healthy digital habits and keep their children safe – set, think, report, as well as engage and support. These were developed through consultation with parents, youths and key partners such as the Media Literacy Council.
The first is setting boundaries online, where parents are to establish clear rules on when and how long technology devices can be used. They should also use parental controls and help their child choose age-appropriate content.
Second is to teach kids how to think before they act. Parents should educate their children 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 their own actions.
Third is to educate children on how to report harmful content or suspicious online activity.
Finally, parents should learn how to engage and support their child in their online journey. This can be done by having regular conversations about their online activities, listen without judgement when they share their experiences, and letting them know they can always turn to their parents if something online makes them feel uncomfortable or confused.
The set of resources follows the MDDI release of the Digital Parenting Study in September, where Teo and Minister of State Rahayu Mahzam committed to making digital parenting resources more action-oriented and accessible for parents.
IMDA's new resources have been developed around these four key actions and will be made available progressively on the Digital for Life portal www.digitalforlife.gov.sg/online-safety.
It will include bite-sized materials such as videos, infographics, interactive tools and games, and 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.
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 Digital for Life 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.
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melissateo@asiaone.com
