Convenience vs. Control: A Qualitative Study of Youth Privacy with Smart Voice Assistants
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866912931251224576 |
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| author | Campbell, Molly De Clark, Trevor Jasem, Mohamad Sheikho Al Joshi, Sandhya Shrestha, Ajay Kumar |
| author_facet | Campbell, Molly De Clark, Trevor Jasem, Mohamad Sheikho Al Joshi, Sandhya Shrestha, Ajay Kumar |
| contents | Smart voice assistants (SVAs) are embedded in the daily lives of youth, yet their privacy controls often remain opaque and difficult to manage. Through five semi-structured focus groups (N=26) with young Canadians (ages 16-24), we investigate how perceived privacy risks (PPR) and benefits (PPBf) intersect with algorithmic transparency and trust (ATT) and privacy self-efficacy (PSE) to shape privacy-protective behaviors (PPB). Our analysis reveals that policy overload, fragmented settings, and unclear data retention undermine self-efficacy and discourage protective actions. Conversely, simple transparency cues were associated with greater confidence without diminishing the utility of hands-free tasks and entertainment. We synthesize these findings into a qualitative model in which transparency friction erodes PSE, which in turn weakens PPB. From this model, we derive actionable design guidance for SVAs, including a unified privacy hub, plain-language "data nutrition" labels, clear retention defaults, and device-conditional micro-tutorials. This work foregrounds youth perspectives and offers a path for SVA governance and design that empowers young digital citizens while preserving convenience. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_04399 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Convenience vs. Control: A Qualitative Study of Youth Privacy with Smart Voice Assistants Campbell, Molly De Clark, Trevor Jasem, Mohamad Sheikho Al Joshi, Sandhya Shrestha, Ajay Kumar Computers and Society Artificial Intelligence Human-Computer Interaction Smart voice assistants (SVAs) are embedded in the daily lives of youth, yet their privacy controls often remain opaque and difficult to manage. Through five semi-structured focus groups (N=26) with young Canadians (ages 16-24), we investigate how perceived privacy risks (PPR) and benefits (PPBf) intersect with algorithmic transparency and trust (ATT) and privacy self-efficacy (PSE) to shape privacy-protective behaviors (PPB). Our analysis reveals that policy overload, fragmented settings, and unclear data retention undermine self-efficacy and discourage protective actions. Conversely, simple transparency cues were associated with greater confidence without diminishing the utility of hands-free tasks and entertainment. We synthesize these findings into a qualitative model in which transparency friction erodes PSE, which in turn weakens PPB. From this model, we derive actionable design guidance for SVAs, including a unified privacy hub, plain-language "data nutrition" labels, clear retention defaults, and device-conditional micro-tutorials. This work foregrounds youth perspectives and offers a path for SVA governance and design that empowers young digital citizens while preserving convenience. |
| title | Convenience vs. Control: A Qualitative Study of Youth Privacy with Smart Voice Assistants |
| topic | Computers and Society Artificial Intelligence Human-Computer Interaction |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.04399 |