Teenagers understand social media algorithms but want more control, study finds
Teenagers want a greater voice in the design and governance of platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, according to new research led by University College Dublin. Rather than passive victims of social media algorithms, the study found adolescents have a sophisticated understanding of how recommendations work and actively evaluate the risks and rewards of their online environments.
However, they frequently feel powerless against boundary violations, saying algorithms often interpret even brief attention as interest, resulting in repeated exposure to similar material and, in some cases, reinforcing echo chambers of violence, hate or emotionally manipulative content.
"Although platforms harm young people, it is difficult to deny the benefits they also derive from them," said first author Megan Nyhan, a Ph.D. candidate at the UCD School of Information and Communication Studies and researcher at the Insight Research Center for Data Analytics.
"Young people are very aware of the harms they experience. It is time we give them the space to explain how those harms are experienced and what changes they want to see that would make these platforms safer."
The findings were published as part of the 25th Interaction Design and Children Conference and challenge the common narrative that teenagers' online behavior is characterized by passive consumption driven by the addictive design of these platforms.
The research engaged Irish teens ages 15–18 and offered them the opportunity to unpack how social media works, explain how they perceive and navigate it, and what changes they believe would make these platforms safer and more transparent.
The study involved 87 students from five secondary schools across Ireland who took part in participatory workshops and focus group discussions designed to capture their experiences and recommendations. It found strong support among participants for involving young people directly in decisions about how social media platforms are designed and governed.
Many believed teenagers should be recognized as key stakeholders because they are among the platforms' most frequent users and experience their effects firsthand.
At the same time, participants expressed skepticism that companies would genuinely act on young people's feedback unless meaningful opportunities for engagement were created.
Teenagers expressed widespread frustration with existing reporting and moderation tools, saying reporting harmful content was often ineffective or overly complicated. As a result, many relied instead on quickly scrolling past unwanted posts in the hope that algorithms would eventually stop recommending similar material.
They reported being exposed to violent imagery, pornography, hate speech, misinformation and other upsetting material through algorithmically curated feeds, often without actively searching for it.
Participants described a progression from seemingly harmless content to increasingly graphic, sexualized or otherwise disturbing material, such as searching for and engaging with fashion content on TikTok leading to recommendations featuring explicit sexual content.
Girls, in particular, reported receiving unsolicited and predatory messages from older men after posting content online, leaving them feeling vulnerable and exposed.
Despite these concerns, participants did not advocate abandoning personalized recommendations or banning social media altogether. Instead, they called for greater transparency and more meaningful control over the systems shaping their online experiences.
Recommendations from the teenagers included stronger age-appropriate safeguards, more effective content filters, easier reporting mechanisms, clearer explanations of why content is appearing, improved screen-time management tools, and more responsive ways of telling algorithms what users do and do not want to see.
The researchers say the findings are particularly relevant to the European Union's Digital Services Act, which requires major online platforms to consult groups affected by systemic online risks.
They argue that teenagers should play a central role in those discussions and that meaningful participation will be essential to creating safer and more accountable digital environments.
More information
Megan Nyhan et al, A Seat at The Table: Teen Experiences and Perceptions of Social Media Recommendation Algorithms, Proceedings of the 25th Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference (2026). DOI: 10.1145/3773077.3806115
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Citation: Teenagers understand social media algorithms but want more control, study finds (2026, July 7) retrieved 14 July 2026 from https://phys.org/news/2026-07-teenagers-social-media-algorithms.html
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