Meta has launched Digital Dialogue IRL in Singapore, a free interactive experience aimed at helping teens, parents and educators have more practical conversations about online safety, social media habits and digital wellbeing.
Open to the public at Temasek Shophouse from 25 June to 31 July 2026, the initiative is designed to make online safety feel less abstract and more immediate.
Through visual conversation cards, guided prompts and interactive touchpoints, visitors are encouraged to work through everyday digital scenarios such as screen time, social comparison, feed control, peer pressure, cyberbullying and the boundaries between online and offline life.
Much of the discussion around digital safety tends to focus either on platform rules or on outright warnings. Digital Dialogue IRL instead places its weight on conversation as a practical tool that can help young people make better sense of the digital environments they already inhabit.
Meta says the experience is also intended to help parents and teens better understand the safety features built into Teen Accounts across Instagram, Facebook and Messenger. These accounts now include 13+ content settings in Singapore, which Meta says were shaped by parent feedback and designed to limit teens’ exposure to more sensitive content.
That means younger users are shown content aligned more closely with age-appropriate expectations and cannot opt out of certain protections without parental permission.
The launch was supported by findings from pilot workshops conducted with 304 students across two Singapore secondary schools.
According to the results, teens who took part were 19 percentage points more likely to say they understood the safety tools available on their Instagram Teen Account, with familiarity rising from 52 per cent to 71 per cent after the sessions.
The study also found that 69 per cent of students agreed the sessions helped them have honest and open conversations about social media. Among educators surveyed after the programme, 72 per cent said the illustration-led materials played an important role in helping students engage with more complex issues, while 61 per cent said they intended to use the Digital Dialogue resource in future teaching.
Minister of State for Digital Development and Information and for Health, Rahayu Mahzam, said keeping young people safe online cannot be left to any one party alone. She said it requires government, industry, schools and families to work together, and added that initiatives such as Digital Dialogue IRL are encouraging because they help young people develop judgement through honest conversations with trusted adults.
Clara Koh, Director of Public Policy for Central Southeast Asia and ASEAN at Meta, said the initiative, developed in support of the national Digital for Life movement, was created as a space where teens, parents and educators could talk more openly about real digital experiences, understand the safety tools available to them, and build healthier habits together. She added that digital safety works best when stronger platform protections are paired with open family conversations.
That emphasis on guided, age-appropriate dialogue is also reflected in the experience’s design. Developed in partnership with Singapore illustration studio EYEYAH!, Digital Dialogue IRL uses visual storytelling and reflection prompts to make online safety discussions feel more relatable and less didactic.
Many of the pressures young people face online (comparison, visibility, exclusion, performance) are not always easy to address through rules alone.
Premlatha D/O Selvaraj, a vice-principal at a secondary school under MOE, said the programme created a safe and engaging space for Secondary One students to discuss their online experiences openly and reflect on their digital habits. She added that the illustration-led approach made conversations around social media and wellbeing feel relevant and relatable to students.
Singapore men’s national water polo captain Lee Kai Yang, who was also involved in the launch, drew a link between mental discipline in sport and online life. He said that just as athletes need focus, boundaries and recovery, young people online also benefit from knowing when to switch off, take a break and avoid measuring themselves constantly against others.
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