It Takes a Village: Youth Online Safety Research Highlights Need for Interdisciplinary, Multistakeholder Solutions
Elizabeth A. Sweigart, Jinkyung Park, Pamela Wiśniewski · Journal of Advances in Information Technology · 2025
Youth online safety is a critical concern for parents, educators, behavioral health specialists, technologists, and policymakers.Although the problem is relevant to this array of diverse stakeholders, past research has been limited primarily to parents and teens.Recent trends in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research emphasize the need for a holistic approach that bridges the gaps between these myriad constituencies.These interdisciplinary efforts aim to develop evidence-informed tools and policies that go beyond outdated paradigms and simple access restrictions.This article synthesizes the extant literature-from the evolving understanding of the complex and nuanced risks youth face online to the creation of automated risk detection solutions using Artificial Intelligence (AI)-to elucidate this emerging paradigm.This work contributes to the existing body of knowledge in the field by elaborating the urgent need for comprehensive research and collaborative strategies to ensure young people can safely navigate and benefit from the digital world.