Exploring parents' knowledge of dark design and its impact on children's digital well-being

Description

Dark design (also known as deceptive design, dark patterns, persuasive design, manipulative design and nudging) is evidence by a 'user inferface carefully crafted to trick users into doing things they might not otherwise do' (Brignull, undated). Much dark design is constructed with monetization as the primary goal, although many recent dark design strategies are also oriented towards collecting user information. Concerns about children's vulnerability to inappropriate online marketing and economic fraud and the impact of organisational data collection upon children are increasing. Regulators have begun to recognize, challenge and fine deceptive design practices aimed at children, however, the scope and extent of dark design practices is such that regulators alone cannot safeguard children from such practices. Parents, who are widely understood to be primarily responsible for children's online experiences need to be mindful of and resistant to dark design practices in online spaces. With this in mind this paper explores the influence of dark design across different mediums and parents' views regarding responsibility for addressing online design.

Period	20 Oct 2023
Event title	Association of Internet Researchers 24th Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Event type	Conference
Location	Philadelphia, United States, PennsylvaniaShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International