Desperately Seeking Non-Judgmental Supports: Young People’s Perceptions of Adult Responses to Technology-Facilitated Harms

Young people around the world are increasingly impacted by technology-facilitated harms, yet research shows that teens often do not seek help from adults in their lives to deal with these harms. This article draws data from 25 focus groups with 146 young Canadians (aged 13-18) as they explain why they are reluctant to seek adult help when experiencing technology-facilitated harms. Young Canadians consistently said that adults speak to them in ways that are judgmental, emotionally reactive, and disempowering. To make them more likely to seek help from adults, young people want adults to avoid scare tactic approaches, listen to their perspectives and needs in the aftermath of harm, provide non-judgmental supports, and give them space to openly discuss all the "weird stuff" that they might encounter in digital spaces. These findings underscore the need for adult interventions in young people's digital lives to shift from fear-driven, judgmental approaches toward balanced, non-judgmental, and youth-centered responses that empower young people's agency-an imperative for fostering trust, encouraging help-seeking, and developing more effective support systems-and offer critical guidance for educators, community workers, legislators, and policy makers seeking to build useful and responsive structures for youth dealing with technology-facilitated harms.