JaeWon Kim's research reveals social norms trap youth on mainstream platforms

JaeWon Kim's dissertation takes a social norms approach to youth social media design, arguing that the real obstacle to authentic self-expression is not individual willpower but the normative environment of platforms. Kim identifies a pervasive pluralistic ignorance: young people regularly post and engage in ways they privately dislike because they believe everyone else approves. This disconnect stems from platform architectures that reward performance over connection, making it socially costly to deviate. The research further shows that design interventions (e.g., privacy toggles, content warnings) are ineffective if they clash with existing platform norms—privacy, for example, must be treated as a shared norm rather than an individual setting.

Beyond individual platforms, Kim critiques the broader societal norm that equates 'social media' with a handful of mainstream services (Instagram, TikTok, etc.). This narrow framing constrains both policy and design to merely mitigating harms within those platforms, rather than envisioning fundamentally different alternatives. To counter this, Kim's dissertation involves directly engaging youth in designing and building an evidence-based independent platform whose features consistently signal that building trusted connections is the primary purpose—showing that alternate norms can be engineered from the ground up.