We investigate whether nudges can serve as in-the-moment support for youth online safety through a qualitative Wizard-of-Oz study with 19 adolescents (ages 13–19) using a realistic social media simulation (“SocialSim”). Even before nudges were introduced, participants demonstrated safety competence by interpreting social cues and using protective strategies. When nudges appeared, teens responded differently depending on risk severity and context; they relied on nudge guidance in high-risk, ambiguous situations (e.g., exposure to explicit content), while preferring to exercise their own judgement in lower-risk scenarios (e.g., information requests). We found that nudges were most effective when framed as developmental teaching moments that increased risk awareness and offered actionable advice while preserving autonomy. Participants emphasized proportionality, personalization, and trustworthy risk detection, and cautioned against overly restrictive interventions. Using a Social Information Processing (SIP) framework, this work informs the design of in-the-moment supports that foster adolescents’ decision-making, resilience, and self-regulation online.

On social media, teens must manage their interpersonal boundaries not only with other people, but also with the algorithms embedded in these platforms.In this context, we engaged seven teens in an Asynchronous Remote Community (ARC) as part of a multi-year Youth Advisory Board (YAB) to discuss how they navigate, cope, and co-design for improved boundary management.Teens had preconceived notions of different platforms and navigated boundaries based on specific goals; yet, they struggled when platforms lacked the granular controls needed to meet their needs.Teens enjoyed the personalization afforded by algorithms, but they felt violated when algorithms pushed unwanted content.Teens designed features for enhanced control over their discoverability and for real-time risk detection to avoid boundary turbulence.We provide design guidelines for improved social media boundary management for youth and pinpoint educational opportunities to enhance teens' understanding and use of social media privacy settings and algorithms.

Academic research is largely an adult endeavor that creates systemic power imbalances when studying teen-centered topics, such as adolescent online safety. To rectify this problem, we engaged seven teens as co-researchers through a year-and-a-half-long Youth Advisory Board (YAB) program to critically assess our research processes, lead online safety solutions, and to reflect on their experiences participating in a YAB. Teens pushed back on standard research practices such as parental consent, sought decision-making power in study documentation, design, and execution, and gave more meaningful feedback on research protocols when more deeply involved in the research. For safety interventions, teens proposed both incremental changes for social media platforms (e.g., advanced privacy settings) and more disruptive changes (e.g., decentralized social media platforms) that enhance individual control, digital resilience, and equity. For the YAB, teens highlighted challenges, such as losing momentum over time, lack of collaborative opportunities, and competing interests, fueling frustrations and rifts in engagement. Our research underscores the value of involving teens as co-partners in shaping online safety research. Finally, we provide design implications for social media safety interventions that strengthen teens' agency and actionable guidelines for developing future long-term programs to ensure meaningful contributions to online safety research.

HCI research has been at the forefront of designing interventions for protecting teens online; yet, how can we test and evaluate these solutions without endangering the youth we aim to protect? Towards this goal, we conducted focus groups with 20 teens to inform the design of a social media simulation platform and study for evaluating online safety nudges co-designed with teens. Participants evaluated risk scenarios, personas, platform features, and our research design to provide insight regarding the ecological validity of these artifacts. Teens expected risk scenarios to be subtle and tricky, while also higher in risk to be believable. The teens iterated on the nudges to prioritize risk prevention without reducing autonomy, risk coping, and community accountability. For the simulation, teens recommended using transparency with some deceit to balance realism and respect for participants. Our meta-level research provides a teen-centered action plan to evaluate online safety interventions safely and effectively.

Recent increases in self-harm and suicide rates among youth have coincided with prevalent social media use; therefore, making these sensitive topics of critical importance to the HCI research community. We analyzed 1,224 direct message conversations (DMs) from 151 young Instagram users (ages 13-21), who engaged in private conversations using self-harm and suicide-related language. We found that youth discussed their personal experiences, including imminent thoughts of suicide and/or self-harm, as well as their past attempts and recovery. They gossiped about others, including complaining about triggering content and coercive threats of self-harm and suicide but also tried to intervene when a friend was in danger. Most of the conversations involved suicide or self-harm language that did not indicate the intent to harm but instead used hyperbolical language or humor. Our results shed light on youth perceptions, norms, and experiences of self-harm and suicide to inform future efforts towards risk detection and prevention.