Lower Detection, Higher Protection? Rethinking Age-Related Vulnerability to Deceptive Design Patterns in an Experimental Study

Abstract: Deceptive design patterns (DDPs) are manipulative web designs intended to steer users toward specific actions, representing a growing problem with tangible consequences, such as financial losses. While many studies have demonstrated that older users are more vulnerable to the influence of DDPs, the underlying mechanisms remain insufficiently understood. One possible explanation lies in the differing socialization experiences across age groups. Individuals born in 1980 or earlier largely grew up without the internet and are therefore considered digital immigrants, whereas those born after 1980 are labeled digital natives and are often assumed to possess a more natural and competent handling of digital devices. Therefore, our study focuses on differences between digital immigrants and digital natives to better understand the mechanisms underlying age-related vulnerability to DDP influence. We conducted an online experiment ( N = 107) based on Bongard-Blanchy et al. (2021) , in which participants were asked to identify DDPs across 10 website templates. We compared digital immigrants ( n = 33) and digital natives ( n = 74) with regard to detection ability, awareness of DDPs, emotional responses, and the use of mitigation strategies, and examined potential mediators of the effect of age on DDP detection. As expected, older participants showed lower detection ability and awareness, but reported employing more self-protective strategies compared to younger users. These findings suggest a more complex relationship between age and DDP-related behavior than previously assumed, in which increasing age simultaneously increases both vulnerability and protective factors.