2026
Dong, Jingxin; Chen, Lingyun; Ling, Chen; Gray, Colin M
Clicks, screens, and control: Dark patterns in teen privacy and safety settings on social media Proceedings Article
In: Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26), Association for Computing Machinery, 2026.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Dark Patterns, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Regulation, Social Media, Teenagers
@inproceedings{Dong2026-rq,
title = {Clicks, screens, and control: Dark patterns in teen privacy and safety settings on social media},
author = {Jingxin Dong and Lingyun Chen and Chen Ling and Colin M Gray},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3772363.3798556
https://colingray.me/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/2026_Dongetal_CHIPoster_TeenPrivacySafetySocialMedia.pdf},
doi = {10.1145/3772363.3798556},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-04-01},
urldate = {2026-04-01},
booktitle = {Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in
Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
abstract = {Dark patterns in social media privacy and safety settings can
quietly shape what teenagers see as possible when they try to
protect themselves online. While prior work has documented
manipulative design in individual features or single platforms,
we know less about how privacy and safety controls compare across
the services teens use every day. This paper presents an expert
evaluation of seven privacy and safety management tasks on four
social media platforms. For each task, we mapped task flows to
complete each task, identifying the number of clicks and screens
required. We then analyzed these flows using the dark patterns
ontology to identify where setting discoverability was
compromised or unnecessary friction was employed. All settings
employed dark patterns on at least one platform, and some
settings, such as account deletion and managing in-app
notifications, were particularly onerous. We argue that safety
settings often look like control, but the presence of dark
patterns makes the settings difficult to use and easy to
circumvent. Building on our findings, we outline implications for
the evaluation and design of teen-focused privacy and safety
features and identify opportunities for policy intervention.},
keywords = {Dark Patterns, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Regulation, Social Media, Teenagers},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Dark patterns in social media privacy and safety settings can
quietly shape what teenagers see as possible when they try to
protect themselves online. While prior work has documented
manipulative design in individual features or single platforms,
we know less about how privacy and safety controls compare across
the services teens use every day. This paper presents an expert
evaluation of seven privacy and safety management tasks on four
social media platforms. For each task, we mapped task flows to
complete each task, identifying the number of clicks and screens
required. We then analyzed these flows using the dark patterns
ontology to identify where setting discoverability was
compromised or unnecessary friction was employed. All settings
employed dark patterns on at least one platform, and some
settings, such as account deletion and managing in-app
notifications, were particularly onerous. We argue that safety
settings often look like control, but the presence of dark
patterns makes the settings difficult to use and easy to
circumvent. Building on our findings, we outline implications for
the evaluation and design of teen-focused privacy and safety
features and identify opportunities for policy intervention.
quietly shape what teenagers see as possible when they try to
protect themselves online. While prior work has documented
manipulative design in individual features or single platforms,
we know less about how privacy and safety controls compare across
the services teens use every day. This paper presents an expert
evaluation of seven privacy and safety management tasks on four
social media platforms. For each task, we mapped task flows to
complete each task, identifying the number of clicks and screens
required. We then analyzed these flows using the dark patterns
ontology to identify where setting discoverability was
compromised or unnecessary friction was employed. All settings
employed dark patterns on at least one platform, and some
settings, such as account deletion and managing in-app
notifications, were particularly onerous. We argue that safety
settings often look like control, but the presence of dark
patterns makes the settings difficult to use and easy to
circumvent. Building on our findings, we outline implications for
the evaluation and design of teen-focused privacy and safety
features and identify opportunities for policy intervention.
Gairola, Ritika; Gray, Colin M; Dong, Jingxin; Jeong, Kyung Jin; Otenen, Ege; Sarria, Juan J
"Social Media Killed Our Generation": Teenagers' Felt Experiences of Harm on Social Media Best Paper Proceedings Article
In: CHI '26: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Proceedings, Association for Computing Machinery, 2026.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Dark Patterns, Harm, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Social Media, Teenagers
@inproceedings{Gairola2026-do,
title = {"Social Media Killed Our Generation": Teenagers' Felt Experiences of Harm on Social Media},
author = {Ritika Gairola and Colin M Gray and Jingxin Dong and Kyung Jin Jeong and Ege Otenen and Juan J Sarria},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791519
https://colingray.me/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/2026_Gairolaetal_CHI_TeenagersHarmSocialMedia.pdf},
doi = {10.1145/3772318.3791519},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-01-01},
urldate = {2026-01-01},
booktitle = {CHI '26: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Proceedings},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
abstract = {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.},
keywords = {Dark Patterns, Harm, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Social Media, Teenagers},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
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.
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.