ADOLESCENTS IN CONTROL : Promoting Adolescents Autonomy in Parental Control Applications

Abstract: Parental control applications were introduced to regulate and avoid the negative effects of adolescents’ technology usage. However, parental control apps lack focus on promoting adolescents' autonomy and parent-adolescent collaboration. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to research how parental control apps can be designed to support adolescents’ development towards adulthood and to enhance the active participation from both parties. The research was conducted by interviewing parents (N=7) in which a provocative prototype was used to prime discussions around the topic. This study generated five design implications which are parent-adolescent collaboration, communication support for parental understanding, communication support customized for different cultures, incentivizing healthier habits, and adapting the design for different literacy levels. These implications were extracted from the results which show that parents respect their adolescent’s digital privacy and autonomy. However, there are indications that although parents value insight into their adolescent’s online activities, they are concerned about the infringement of their privacy. Our results suggest that parent-adolescent collaboration is essential for meeting the requirements of parents and adolescents. We conclude that parental control apps could be designed in alternative ways with less focus on surveillance functionality and instead strive for aspects of collaboration, communication, and autonomy.