Pamela Wisniewski

Two CSCW Papers Accepted

See You at CSCW 2017!

Parents Just Don’t Understand: Why Teens Don’t Talk to Parents about Their Online Risk Experiences

Wisniewski, P., Xu, H., Rosson, M.B., and Carroll, J.M.

Abstract: Past research has shown that parents tend to underestimate the frequency with which their teens experience online risks. However, little is known about whether and how teens communicate with their parents when online risks do occur. In a two-month, web-based diary study of 68 teen-parent pairs, participants provided separate accounts of the teens’ weekly online risk experiences. We found that most teens had little or no communication with their parents regarding their online risk experiences, and parents and teens shared very different perceptions and reactions when risks were reported, helping explain why communication was so poor. We discuss the implications of our results and make recommendations for how researchers and designers may work to improve the state of family communication regarding adolescent online risks in the future.

Wisniewski, P., Xu, H., Rosson, M.B., and Carroll, J.M. (2017) “Parents Just Don’t Understand: Why Teens Don’t Talk to Parents about Their Online Risk Experiences” In the Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW 2017), Portland, OR. (34.5% acceptance rate)
[Download pdf]

Parental Control vs. Teen Self-Regulation: Is there a middle ground for mobile online safety?

Wisniewski, P., Ghosh, A.K., Xu, H., Rosson, M.B., and Carroll, J.M.

Abstract: We conducted a structured, qualitative feature analysis of 75 Android mobile apps designed for the purpose of promoting adolescent online safety. Through this analysis we identified 42 unique features that mapped to a theoretically derived conceptual framework of teen online safety strategies balanced between parental control strategies (through monitoring, restriction, and active mediation) and teen self-regulation strategies (through self-monitoring, impulse control, and risk-coping). We found that the apps strongly favored features that promote parental control through monitoring and restricting teens’ online behaviors over teen self-regulation or more communicative and collaborative practices between parents and teens. We use the lens of value sensitive design to discuss the implications of our results and identify opportunities for designing mobile apps for online safety that embed more positive family values.

Wisniewski, P., Ghosh, A.K.*, Xu, H., Rosson, M.B., and Carroll, J.M. (2017) “Parental Control vs. Teen Self-Regulation: Is there a middle ground for mobile online safety?” In the Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW 2017), Portland, OR. (34.5% acceptance rate)
[Download pdf]

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