Supporting Family Discussions About Digital Privacy Through Perspective-Taking: An Empirical Investigation

While 96% of U.S. teens use the internet daily, most families face challenges in discussing privacy concerns, with parents feeling unprepared and teens being hesitant to communicate. This study explored how guided family discussions, grounded in perspective-taking theory, promoted mutual understanding and enhanced digital privacy literacy. Through a qualitative study involving 13 parent-child pairs, we identified three key communication challenges: abstract discussions about privacy, reliance on absolute statements, and a decline in teen engagement. These challenges stemmed from limited privacy literacy and a lack of adaptive communication. Our perspective-taking facilitation approach addressed these issues by transforming traditional parent-led conversations into collaborative exchanges through reflective practices and helping families view privacy as a context-dependent concept. We propose design implications for educational technology to scale the support of family privacy discussions, including tools that support perspective-taking and interfaces that highlight non-binary privacy choices.