Mobile Technology and Teens: Understanding the Changing Needs of Sociocultural and Technical Landscape

Teens’ mobile technology use can help teens connect with one another, but it also raises concerns around overuse, addiction, and exposure to harmful content. Traditional tools and methods for parental controls and guidance for mobile technology use among children, such as screen time limits, often fail to address teens’ nuanced experiences on the benefits and harm of their mobile technology use. This workshop brings together interdisciplinary researchers, practitioners, and teen advocates to examine how the CHI community can foster healthy teen mobile-technology relationships. Our goals are to: (1) co-design research agenda, (2) foster cross-sociocultural collaboration, (3) generate guidance for stakeholders (e.g., public, policymakers, parents, healthcare providers), and (4) plan actionable steps for ongoing impact. The workshop will explore themes like engaging broader stakeholders, embracing marginalized voices, and navigating the implications of emerging technologies through panel presentations and interactive sessions. By examining these themes, we aim to re-explore the HCI community’s discourse on teen mobile technology use and well-being, fostering a comprehensive understanding and inclusive approaches to navigate the multifaceted challenges in the modern digital landscape in diverse sociocultural contexts.