2025 Virtual Youth Forum Highlights

The forum created a space for open, youth-led conversations about the challenges and opportunities that come with growing up in a digital world. Through panels, discussions, and interactive activities, young people and experts examined the role social media plays in identity, community, well-being, and mental health. 

You can view the agenda and see the offering of sessions here. 

• Youth-Led from Start to Finish: From determining the name of forum to how to evaluate success and impact, our Youth Advisory Panel (YAP) helped shape the event and took on leadership roles throughout, moderating panels and leading breakout activities. 
• Real Conversations: Participants shared personal stories and explored the complex impact of social media, acknowledging both its benefits and risks. 
• Interactive Sessions: Activities like trivia, mindfulness exercises, and a virtual scavenger hunt kept the experience fun, engaging, and meaningful. 

Some key themes that emerged: 

• Youth voices matter. Their input and leadership create a more authentic and relatable experience. They are well versed in the challenges and successes concerning youth and they are the key to making innovative change.  
• Mental health and social media are deeply connected. Participants talked openly about how online life affects their emotional well-being and how to better navigate it. 
• Offline living still matters. Many expressed a desire to spend more time on in-person interactions and experiences. 
• Trust takes work. The forum offered strategies for youth to talk with parents and other adults about their online lives in ways that build understanding and connection. 
• Youth are ready to lead change. Attendees left motivated to support their peers, advocate for safer online spaces, and model healthier digital habits. 

Youth participants practiced and built key life skills, including: 

• Social Skills and Emotion Regulation 
  • Youth reflected on how they manage stress, build empathy and set online boundaries with peers. This was especially important when experiencing “Fear of Missing Out” or FOMO, online drama and cyberbullying. These conversations helped attendees grow and reflect in self-awareness and emotional regulation.   
• Digital Citizenship 
  • Youth discussed how they responsibly navigate online communities, doing things like choosing when to post, how and when to engage with comments and differentiating between being a supportive following vs bystander. They also shared tips for reporting harmful content or people and supporting their friends online.  
• Media Literacy 
  • Participants discussed how algorithms shape what they see and how they feel when on platforms. They had shared discussions on the pressure of curated profiles and the need for and steps to engage in critical thinking and fact-checking.  
• Communication & Trust-Building 
  • In several sessions, youth got to role-play how to talk to adults about their online lives. They shared thoughts and opinions related to boundaries and what they need from adults to build open communication and avoid secrets. 
• Advocacy 
  • Youth discussed ideas for improving social media’s impact on mental health. They expressed interest in advocating for peers and themselves at community events and other youth-driven activities.  

The Virtual Youth Forum exemplified the importance of creating safe, inclusive spaces where youth can learn, share, and lead, and laid the groundwork for future youth-centered events and programs that amplify young voices and support their mental health in the digital age.