we have a public health emergency.

The surgeon general has issued a national warning around the use of social media by children and adolescents. Features on these social media platforms are designed to nudge children into risky behaviors, and 75% of them use AI to recommend children’s profiles to strangers and potential predators. So how are we addressing it?

In the spring of 2023, the d.school, GoodforMEdia and the Stanford Center for Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing brought together youth activists, social media companies, families and policy experts to explore this timely issue affecting the mental health of young people all over the country. Read our full report out here.

How might we design technology which represents the values encoded in policies like the California Age Appropriate Design Code which protect children? How might design help translate policy into concrete and practical action?

Laws and policies can be passed by federal and local government, but operationalizing them into design solutions and social media platforms is an entirely different challenge. Through this design exercise, participants start by brainstorming and reflecting on three different principles from the California Age Appropriate Design Code (ex. restrict data collection and profiling of children), debrief in groups to discuss the principles (and where they collectively stand around their values), and design new features in social media platforms to represent these principles.

By starting the conversation at a macro level and ending it with a single design change, participants experience the process of encoding values in policy and design.

Want to run your own design session around the California Age Appropriate Design Code or another policy?

Here’s our resources that you can print and remix.