*The term netizen is a portmanteau of the words internet and citizen. A netizen is a user of the internet, especially one that is actively involved in online communities or the Internet in general.|

Our activities

With a flexible approach, the City of Amsterdam focuses on scaling up and supporting existing interventions on the one hand, and on innovation and initiating new initiatives on the other. This is done within four lines of action:

Image: Rachel Sender

1. Connecting to the world of young people in Amsterdam

Amsterdam’s youth, parents/caregivers and professionals are actively involved in solution approaches and implementation, so that (future) policies or interventions are well aligned with reality, research and the living environment. Because for young people, there has long since ceased to be a division between online and offline. The College does not forget the opportunities either: the online world is also a place of creativity, connection and new possibilities.

2. Protecting and regulating

The College puts maximum effort into a healthy digital environment and policy advocacy as long as the platforms or tech companies do not take responsibility. The College is proactively countering the negative effects of technology, especially smartphones and social media. And when things go wrong, Amsterdam provides appropriate help.

3. Changing standards and responsible use

The College is committed to raising awareness and changing standards around smartphone and social media use. The College encourage parents/caregivers to keep their children smartphone-free during their primary school years and preferably not let children use social media until the age of 15, as prescribed by the new national government guideline. However, Amsterdam realises that this is trickier in reality; everyone makes their own choices and changing standards takes time.

4. Improving digital resilience

The College increases young people’s digital resilience, focuses on raising awareness around the risks of screen use and social media, and encourages more knowledge and skills among parents/caregivers and professionals so they can better guide Amsterdam’s young people. Because even if children and young people do not yet have access to devices and/or social media, it is very important to make them media-savvy in other ways and make agreements on usage in the future.

The Young Netizens Programme is one of the initiatives of the Digital City Agenda. 

Click here to read te full version of the 2025-2026 action plan of this programme:
2025-2026 Action Plan Young Netizens Programme 

Youth design lab Connect

With our design lab Connect we address the issues and challenges of the online world, together with young people from Amsterdam and the people surrounding them. Connect tackles several issues on the topic of growing up in the digital era in a variety of labs. Through the co-design method we work with, we develop a vision, we design, we present prototypes and we implement ideas together with collaborators. We share everything we learn, discover and create with our network. In this way we create a new narrative about the online world and we involve the city in our vision to make the online world a healthy and safe space to grow up in.

Some of the programme’s projects highlighted

Digital Detox - Disconnect to Reconnect

How can young people develop healthier digital habits? Designteam ScrollScrollScroll is working on creative interventions to help young people take control of their screen time and reconnect with the world around them. Two interventions are currently being tested as part of the programme. 

It's Time to Wake Up 

It's Time to Wake Up is an intervention for first-year secondary school students aimed at reducing smartphone use in the bedroom. Through challenges and an alarm clock, young people are encouraged to keep their phones out of the bedroom at night and to spend their screen time more mindfully. 

Image: Scrollscrollscroll

Check Out

This intervention introduces Wi-Fi without distraction from social media on semi-public locations, such as the library and study groups. The physical check-out points help young people to not be distracted by social media and study with greater focus. Both interventions contribute to a digital detox: less screen time, more focus and space for genuine connection.

Image: Scrollscrollscroll

The first pilots with check Out at OVER Huiswerkbegeleiding and OBA Oosterdok have been completed. The pilot with the alarm clocks is still in progress. Depending on the results of the pilots, the prototypes will be further developed in the fall of 2025. 

Helpwanted pilot

Helpwanted, the national, anonymous helpline for online transgressive behaviour, runs a pilot on behalf of the City of Amsterdam. Helpwanted identifies the issues that are taking place online in Amsterdam during a period of six months. And, in response, gives concrete advice to the City about how young people can be better protected online. In this way, the pilot enables us to better support young people with unpleasant experiences online, for instance by having their content removed.

Image: Helpwanted

TUMO

TUMO Center for Creative Technologies is a free, innovative and accessible afterschool programme for design, creativity and technology. In TUMO, young people aged between 12 and 18 years old get to work with the newest technology by a combination of self-study, workshops and project labs after school and during holidays. Regardless of their educational level or socio-economic status. This way we ensure that young people in Amsterdam are equipped with the knowledge and skills to be online in a responsible and safe manner and we enable them to use the latest technology. TUMO will kick off in 2025 and will be part of OBA Next’s programming.

Image: TUMO

Trend monitor

Young people aged between 12 and 27 years old map the current trends in their online worlds in the recurrent Online Youth Monitor. This trend monitor, a collaboration with ‘Samen voor Jongeren Amsterdam (SvJA), is intented for professionals working with young people. Such as youth workers, street workers, project leads youth and safety, schools, civil servants and youth care organisations. It is being used for knowledge sharing, early detecting of developments and it serves as substantive input for activities for young people and our meetings with our network. The City of Amsterdam recognises the importance of knowledge-sharing on the topic of the online world. Therefore, we support SvJA to further develop the Online Youth Monitor.

Image: Samen voor Jongeren Amsterdam - Jong Inzicht

ATTACHED

In the ATTACHED project we collect and present the ideas and experiences of young people in Amsterdam about how online platforms can be improved and how they could become more safe and pleasant. We think it is important to include their opinions and ideas in conversations about technology. This is why we bring the topics that young people find important to the attention of a wider audience.

This is how:

• A series of portraits of six young people
• A collection of stories with reflections of professionals
• A manifesto
• Ideas for an alternative digital world

Read more on the ATTACHED page.

Image: ATTACHED (Maria Bodil) 

ChatLicense

The app ChatLicense helps parents and children discover the online world together. In an educational game based on an evidence-based method, children learn more about important topics such as chatting, gaming and social media. Parents find, in one place, information about the online experiences of their children and receive insights about popular apps, including the pros and cons of these apps. To support young people and their parents, we handed out vouchers to use ChatLicense for free for one year during ScholenArena 2024, a high school exploration event for 6.000 children from years 7 and 8 (aged 10-12).

Image: ChatLicense

Get in touch

If you have any questions or if you are interested in collaborating with us, please contact Charissa Sloote (programme manager) or Leonore Snoek (designer) via connectlab@amsterdam.nl.

Check out the Young Netizens Actionplan: