For the first time, people report that their primary motivation for using AI isn’t entertainment, but learning. Teens in particular are excited about AI and digital tools to support their learning and creativity, but don’t want to go it alone – they want guidance, balance, and support to help them safely navigate the new learning frontier.
To support Safer Internet Day, we’re highlighting five ways students, parents, and educators can work together to keep the focus on safe, effective learning.
Support learning with smarter online/offline boundaries
Knowing when to step away can be as important as knowing when to dive in. Protections like SafeSearch are on by default for kids, and Family Link can support smarter boundaries– including screen-time management, app approvals, content filters, privacy settings, and more. “School time” supports distraction-free learning by limiting device functionality during school and homework hours.
Foster critical thinking in the age of AI
From history to computer science, anyone diving into anything needs to know the “why” as readily as the “what.” Using Guided Learning in Gemini, learners are guided to approach complex problems step-by-step, encouraging critical thinking over shortcuts and answers. Nearly three-quarters of people now use AI for education, and a majority of teachers believe AI will improve student outcomes.
Help teens spot AI content and evaluate info online
As sophisticated AI tools become more common, understanding the origin and context of media we interact with is more important than ever. Best practices like the “SIFT” method in the Super Searchers training program – Stop, Investigate the source, Find better coverage, and Trace claims – help students critically evaluate online information. “About this image” in Search provides helpful context about the images you come across online and SynthID watermarks identify when an image, audio, or video was created using Google’s AI.
Involve parents and guardians
Parents can stay involved by understanding the platforms their children use, working together to set family guidelines whether learning, socializing, or more. YouTube’s supervised accounts for teens are designed to respect a teen’s growing autonomy while still ensuring parents are in the loop, providing shared insights into their teens’ channel activity, including the number of uploads, subscriptions and comments. This year, we also introduced a set of quality principles that will make it easier for teens to find higher quality, enriching, age-appropriate content on YouTube.
Improve digital citizenship
The online world is a global community, and good citizenship extends beyond the classroom. With cyberbullying a growing concern, it’s more important than ever to teach the fundamentals of digital citizenship and online safety. Be Internet Awesome provides resources for educators and families to empower young people to be smart, alert, strong, kind, and brave online.
Access – with the appropriate guardrails – can open up new avenues of learning, creativity and opportunity for young people. For practical tools and resources to help families explore, learn, and stay protected in an evolving online landscape, check out the Family Guide to Online Safety in 2026 .
Google supports Safer Internet Day (SID), a European Commission-led initiative that brings together stakeholders worldwide to promote a safer, more positive internet. SID is organised as part of the European Commission’s Better Internet for Kids initiative.
