Digital culture and insights
Revealing Reality is an award-winning insight agency. We tackle complex projects with a social purpose, informing policy, design, and behaviour change. Our research spans diverse sectors, always grounded in understanding life as it's lived - spending time with people, observing their behaviour, and exploring cultural context. The impact of digital technology on our lives demands this approach. What's happening on our screens? How do we interact with our devices? How do they shape our lives?
This website brings together a decade of our research and insights on these critical questions.
Articles and videos
Self-funded research
The Sound of Silence
Why young people love ASMR videos and what it tells us about what we crave
February 2025
Not Just Flirting
The unequal experiences and consequences of nude image-sharing by young people
August 2022
Through the Looking Glass
How smartphones change our behaviour, shape our thinking and increase inequality, and what we can do about it
June 2019
Live Streaming: A new economy of connection
The growth of live streaming and how it shapes the way we connect (and make money)
March 2023
Cleaning up in the attention economy
Research into the experiences of social media moderators
November 2022
Commissioned research
How data shapes children’s digital lives
The second wave of our longitudinal research for the Information Commissioner’s Office tracking children’s experiences and interactions around data.
August 2025
Under the influence
We partnered with the PSHE Association – to understand how children engage with their social media feeds and how to help them reflect more critically on what they’re seeing.
July 2025
Experiences of engaging with the manosphere
Read our report, commissioned by Ofcom, to really understand the diverse people, communities, content and views that make up the manosphere.
June 2025
Children’s Media Lives, wave 11
Our latest Children’s Media Lives research maps a continual shift in how the digital world is reshaping childhood.
May 2025
Children’s data lives, in their own words
The first wave of our longitudinal research for the Information Commissioner’s Office tracking children’s experiences and interactions around data.
November 2024
The difference a decade makes – 10 years of Children’s Media Lives
The tenth wave of our research for Ofcom tracking of children consume media.
April 2024
Using Avatars to study children’s experiences online
A pilot methodology report for Ofcom exploring the potential for using Avatars to study online harms
June 2023
Children’s Media Lives, wave 9
Ninth wave of our research for Ofcom tracking children’s experiences of media
March 2023
How should we assess media literacy?
This research provides Ofcom and its stakeholders with a robust and innovative evidence base across the many facets of media literacy.
November 2022
Why is abusive image-sharing often not thought of as abuse?
In the first research of its kind to explore potential links between nude image-sharing and domestic abuse.
February 2023
How families feel about online age assurance
Research for the Information Commissioner’s Office and Ofcom about how both children and their parents feel about the different methods for confirming their age online
October 2022
How children are harmed online
Research for Ofcom exploring the experiences of 42 children who had experienced harm online and the risk factors that played a role.
October 2022
How people are harmed online
As Ofcom prepares to take on its role as regulator of the powers to be introduced by the Online Safety Bill, it is developing its evidence base to understand how people are harmed online, what that harm looks like and the impact it can have.
September 2022
Children’s Media Lives, wave 8
Eigth wave of our research for Ofcom tracking children’s experiences of media.
March 2022
Who’s missing out? Connecting people in residential care
In research for Ofcom’s Communications Consumer Panel we found that while there were huge gaps in connectivity between homes, the differences in access between residents within the same home could be far, far greater.
October 2021
Pathways: How digital design puts children at risk
The Pathways report is the outcome of a research project undertaken by Revealing Reality on behalf of 5Rights Foundation. It examines how design choices embedded in digital products impact the lives of children.
January 2022
Measuring online harm
Research for the Department of Digital Culture Media and Sport to assess the feasibility of measuring the prevalence and impact of online harm. This research developed the Hazards, Risks, Harms framework, which has subsequently been adopted by Ofcom to guide their regulatory duties.
August 2021
Life in Lockdown
During our lockdown instalment of Children’s Media Lives for Ofcom, the children we spoke to were unsurprisingly spending most of their time gaming or consuming online content.
January 2022
Observing real news behaviours
Recognising the importance of the BBC’s role as a trusted provider of news and current affairs in the UK, Ofcom commissioned this research to understand how people consume news online and the role the BBC plays in this.
July 2021
Young people, Pornography & Age-verification
This research was commissioned by the BBFC to provide context to the current online pornography landscape, as well as explore young people’s interactions with, and attitudes towards, pornography.
January 2020
Children’s Media Lives, wave 6
Sixth wave of our research for Ofcom tracking children’s experiences of media.
February 2020
Life on the small screen: What children are watching and why
Ofcom commissioned this research to explore what video content children are watching, how they reach it, why they choose it.
January 2019
Gaming the system
A report for The Children's Commissioner, on the effects of online gaming on children.
October 2019
Children’s Media Lives, wave 5
Fifth wave of our research for Ofcom tracking children’s experiences of media.
January 2019
Towards a better digital future
The ICO commissioned us to explore the views of parents, carers and children on a number of issues that will be addressed by the Age Appropriate Design Code.
September 2018
Scrolling News
Ofcom commissioned this research in order to find out more about the differences between what people say they do when it comes to online news, what they believe they do, and what they actually do.
July 2018
Life in ‘Likes’
This research report for The Children’s Commissioner, explored how children aged 8-12 use social media and what impact this has.
January 2018
Children’s Media Lives, wave 4
Fourth wave of our research for Ofcom tracking children’s experiences of media.
December 2017
Smartphone by default
Research exploring the (then) small emerging group of consumers who relied primarily on a smartphone to access the internet.
May 2016