Social media platforms are deeply embedded in teenagers’ daily lives, shaping their identities, relationships, and leisure time while introducing risks such as social pressure, harmful content, and addiction. While attention capture mechanisms and dark patterns are increasingly recognized as contributors to the harm these platforms perpetuate, teenagers’ own experiences of harm remain underexplored. In this study, we report on analysis of eight interviews with participants aged 12–17, revealing how their desire to be a “normal teen” shapes their lives, how they experience and interpret harms, and how ecologies of use influence mitigation strategies. Our findings reveal that teenagers frequently attribute responsibility to themselves or other teens rather than the designed affordances of the platform. We contribute a detailed account of potential behavioral and attentional harms that further situates “what counts as harm” within contemporary technology governance debates, emphasizing the need for design alternatives that balance safety, agency, and meaningful engagement.

Anti-Hero Card Deck with Hero Counterparts and Action Cards.