Exploring the Feasibility and Acceptability of Technological Interventions to Prevent Adolescents' Exposure to Online Pornography: Qualitative Research.

Abstract

Background: Amid growing concern over children's access to online pornography, policy makers are looking toward new and emerging technological concepts for unexplored solutions including artificial intelligence and facial recognition.

Objective: This study sought to explore and ideate emerging technological interventions that are feasible, acceptable, and effective in preventing and controlling the exposure of young people to online pornographic material.

Methods: We conducted a series of qualitative co-design workshops with both adult (n=8; aged 32-53 years) and adolescent participants (n=4; aged 15-17 years) to ideate potential technological interventions that are feasible, acceptable, and effective at preventing and controlling the exposure of young people to online pornographic material. A story stem methodology was used to explore participants' attitudes toward two unique technological prototypes.

Results: Participants expressed a generally favorable view of the proposed technological concepts but remained unconvinced of their overall utility and effectiveness in preventing the intentional viewing of pornography by young people. Age-appropriate parent-child conversations remained participants' preferred approach to mitigating potential harms from pornographic material, with parents also expressing a desire for more educational resources to help them better navigate these discussions. User privacy and data security were a primary concern for participants, particularly surrounding the use and collection of biometric data.

Conclusions: Internationally, policy makers are taking action to use age assurance technologies to prevent children's access to online pornography. It is important to consider the needs and opinions of parents and young people in the use and implementation of these technologies. Participants in this study were generally supportive of new and emerging technologies as useful tools in preventing the accidental exposure of young people to online pornographic material. However, participants remained less convinced of their ability to avert intentional viewing, with substantial concerns regarding technological efficacy, adaptability, and user privacy. Further, co-design and prototype refinement are needed to better understand user acceptability and comfortability of these new technological interventions, alongside additional research exploring sociocultural differences in information needs and user experiences.