Opinion
How to Keep Kids Safe Online? Ask Videogame Designers
Instead of trying to keep kids out of toxic online spaces, we should be building ones where they can thrive—something savvy gamers are already doing.
Amanda Lenhart (@amanda_lenhart) is the Program Director, Health and Data at the Data & Society Research Institute.
I’ve spent the past year interviewing dozens of doers inside social media and game companies—product managers, engineers, and members of trust and safety teams. Along with my research partner, Kellie Owens, I asked people the basic question: Do these companies think about well-being, especially that of young people, when they design new products and features?
The short answer was: not really. The longer answer has a lot in common with what Frances Haugen, now known universally as the Facebook whistleblower, told Congress last week.