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Research involving sensitive data often leads to valuable human-centered insights. Yet, the effects of participating in and conducting research about sensitive data with youth are poorly understood. We conducted meta-level research to improve our understanding of these effects. We did the following: (i) asked youth (aged 13-21) to share their private Instagram Direct Messages (DMs) and flag their unsafe DMs; (ii) interviewed 30 participants about the experience of reflecting on this sensitive data; (iii) interviewed research assistants (RAs, n=12) about their experience analyzing youth's data. We found that reflecting about DMs brought discomfort for participants and RAs, although both benefited from increasing their awareness about online risks, their behavior, and privacy and social media practices. Participants had high expectations for safeguarding their private data while their concerns were mitigated by the potential to improve online safety. We provide implications for ethical research practices and the development of reflective practices among participants and RAs through applying trauma-informed principles to HCI research. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) underpins virtually every experience that we have—from search and social media to generative AI and immersive social virtual reality (SVR). For Generation Z, there is no before AI. As adults, we must humble ourselves to the notion that AI is shaping youths’ world in ways that we don’t understand and we need to listen to them about their lived experiences. We invite researchers from academia and industry to participate in a workshop with youth activists to set the agenda for research into how AI-driven emerging technologies affect youth and how to address these challenges. This reflective workshop will amplify youth voices and empower youth and researchers to set an agenda. As part of the workshop, youth activists will participate in a panel and steer the conversation around the agenda for future research. All will participate in group research agenda setting activities to reflect on their experiences with AI technologies and consider ways to tackle these challenges. 

It is not well understood why people continue to use privacy-invasive apps they consider creepy. We conducted a scenario-based study (n = 751) to investigate how the intention to use an app is influenced by affective perceptions and privacy concerns. We show that creepiness is one facet of affective discomfort, which is becoming normalized in app use. We found that affective discomfort can be negatively associated with the intention to use a privacy-invasive app. However, the influence is mitigated by other factors, including data literacy, views regarding app data practices, and ambiguity of the privacy threat. Our findings motivate a focus on affective discomfort when designing user experiences related to privacy-invasive data practices. Treating affective discomfort as a fundamental aspect of user experience requires scaling beyond the point where the thumb meets the screen and accounting for entrenched data practices and the sociotechnical landscape within which the practices are embedded.