Understanding girls’ & boys’ online experiences

This briefing explores online safety through the lens of gender. It examines the similarities and contrasts between boys’ and girls’ online lives, and the different actions parents take to support and safeguard them.

Download briefing

Where the research comes from

This briefing draws on data from Internet Matters’ Digital Wellbeing Index, which is in its fourth year at the time of publishing. The Digital Wellbeing Index is an annual UK household survey of 1,000 children aged 9-16 and their parents, exploring children’s online lives through four indices of wellbeing: physical, emotional, social and developmental.

The Digital Wellbeing Index tracks how experiences of the online world impact children. These insights help families, educators, industry and Government to make effective and supportive changes.

Key findings

Narrowing gender gaps

Girls and boys increasingly spend their time online in similar ways (such as with social media). However, differences remain when it comes to gaming.
Boys and girls are broadly positive about the time they spend online, highlighting how it supports their wellbeing.

Exposure to harm

The gap between boys and girls has narrowed for several experiences. This includes similar rates of encountering racist, homophobic or sexist content (29% for both) among other harms.
However, girls remain significantly more likely to encounter online abuse and harassment. 18% of girls say they’ve received abusive and upsetting messages from people they know, compared to 14% of boys.
The biggest rises in the findings this year come from boys reporting distress. For example, 41% of boys who say they were contacted by strangers said they were distressed by it. In 2024, this number was 28%.
Despite rising levels of distress among boys, girls continue to experience more emotional distress overall. This is particularly true of encountering certain types of content online, such as that which is sexual or which promotes unrealistic body types.
Girls are more likely than boys to speak to someone when they experience harm online.
Boys are more likely than girls to take action on a platform to keep themselves safe.

Parental responses

Overall, parents see benefits of children being online. For example, parents of girls are more likely to feel that the online world can inspire their child to try new things (77% compared to 70% of parents of boys).
Parents of girls are more concerned about their child encountering harm online. Concerns about contact from strangers or being bullied online align with girls’ experiences.
Parents of boys are particularly worried about loneliness in their child. 28% say their child spending time online makes their child feel lonely compared to 21% who said the same in 2024.
Parents take more action to support girls online. The use of parental controls for girls rose from 42% in 2023 to 49% in 2025. However, this number remained the same for boys (44%).
This year has seen a decline in parents of boys reporting that they ask their child to show them what they’re doing on their device (35% compared to 44% of parents of girls).

Our recommendations

Building a digital world where all children can thrive will only be possible by considering how different factors, such as gender, shape experiences.

The UK’s Online Safety Act will go some way to achieving this. However, to be effective it must be enforced robustly and complemented by wider action from industry, Government and civil society to address the realities of children’s varied lived experiences.

Government should mandate robust age assurance for all children.
Government should make Ofcom’s guidance to protect women and girls online a statutory code of practice.
Government must ensure that schools and teachers are well-supported to deliver media and digital literacy.
Industry must make apps and platforms safe-by-design for all children.

Read the full report brief

The Gender Gap research brief

Explore the full research into gendered experiences online.

Download

Supporting parents and carers

Parents are children’s main source of information about online safety and will always play a critical role in children’s online lives. The following resources are some which can help support children’s digital wellbeing.