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Co-creating digital safety with youth works. Here’s what we learned from piloting ISS Teens with Headstream and where we’re headed next.
What does it take to build a digital safety curriculum that actually resonates with young people?
Well it's not a lecture, a list of rules, on how to go online.
What it takes is a partnership, and that’s exactly how we created ISS Teens alongside Headstream.
Cyber Collective teamed up with Headstream because we wanted to get right to the source, a group of youth who were acutely aware of mental health harms in this digital age.
From Headstream’s side, the partnership aligned with their mission to foster digital well-being and mental health through youth-led innovation. It gave their youth accelerator participants real leadership exposure while also amplifying Headstream’s commitment to creating a healthier digital ecosystem.
From Cyber Collective’s side, we were seeking genuine collaboration with youth, young people who already cared about the internet’s impact on their lives. Headstream’s cohort wasn’t new to the idea of digital harm. Many were already building tools and platforms with mental health in mind. It was a perfect match.
What we offered:
A tailored version of our Internet Street Smarts (ISS) curated to serve young people , covering foundational concepts of digital safety with expanded case studies designed to spark real discussion and personal reflection.
What Headstream provided:
A thoughtful group of young people ready to engage deeply with content about cybersecurity, manipulation, identity, and algorithmic harm, many of whom brought their own lived expertise to the conversation.
The pilot taught us a lot, not just about what to teach, but how to teach it.
After piloting ISS Teens with Headstream, we brought their youth co-creators into a feedback session to imagine what’s next. This was a collaborative design opportunity grounded in lived experience, where young people helped us reimagine what digital safety education could look like.
Their insights pushed us to think beyond a single workshop and toward something more adaptable, emotionally resonant, and lasting.
During our feedback session with Headstream’s youth co-creators, we inquired what digital safety education should feel like. What emerged was a powerful reimagining of ISS Teens as an evolving ecosystem built on participation, emotional resonance, and long-term impact. Participants emphasized the need for interactive formats—like games, peer-led short videos, and web-based hubs that go beyond passive learning. They wanted real stories from people like them, content that reflects diverse identities, and honest conversation around high-stakes topics like grooming, scams, deepfakes, AI manipulation, and sextortion. But they also pushed us further: What would it look like to create a program that lasts? That keeps them coming back? Their vision included post-course meetups, digital communities, incentive structures, and even a National Internet Safety Day.
Most importantly, they reminded us that partnerships—with youth, with educators, and with trusted community orgs—are the only way to scale safety, trust, and care
Right now, we’re mapping out what a future ISS Teens offering could look like. Whether that’s a “choose your own adventure” game + guidebook, a classroom-ready kit for educators, or a scalable online learning platform with community built in.
We’re especially focused on how to empower educators, caregivers, and youth leaders to deliver ISS content themselves, with the flexibility to shape it for their own communities.
We’re grateful to Headstream not only for giving us a space to test and grow, but for reminding us that co-creation is the work.
Stay tuned—this is just the beginning.
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