I'd like to emphasize that in our research, and in our focus groups, we often found that the younger users, who were all adult ages—I should add that disclaimer, 18 plus—were also active digital participants. What I mean by this is that they often displayed a high level of digital agency. They understood how the flow of information worked in these digital spaces. In chat groups in which there were older demographics, younger users would often volunteer for the function of correcting incorrect and inaccurate content; take the extra step of having an off-line conversation with, perhaps, a senior family member; negotiate tricky cultural dynamics by walking the fine line of being respectful to a senior but correcting the poor-quality information they were sharing; and flag in a group that this kind of content is inflammatory and shouldn't be shared.
We should absolutely recognize the kinds of harms that digital spaces create for these individual users but, for younger populations, also give them some credit.