More Tools, More Control: Young Users on Handling Unwanted Messages

This CDT study drew on diary-style interviews with 32 people aged 14 to 21, who logged unwanted, unsolicited, or sexually charged messages they received online over roughly three weeks. Exposure was highly uneven: some participants recorded as many as seven unwanted contacts while others reported only one or none, undercutting a one-size-fits-all view of the problem.

Participants described layered coping strategies, from proactive steps such as setting accounts to private and limiting interactions to close circles, to reactive ones such as assessing a message's severity before blocking, ignoring, or reporting it, and occasionally consulting friends or family before escalating.

Based on these accounts, CDT recommends platforms strengthen basic response tools (block, delete, report), default younger users to private, less-discoverable accounts, and add friction — such as warnings or delays — before interactions with unknown accounts can proceed, arguing that youth-informed design can improve safety without stripping away autonomy.