Teen Friendly UX: 5 lessons learned
Making my way from a school psychologist to a UX Researcher, I had the unique opportunity to combine my expertise in psychology with my passion for improving user experiences. Through my work on Numi, a mental health chatbot for young Czech people, I gained valuable insights into teenagers’ perception of usability.
Chatbot Numi is a non-profit project driven by a group of mental health enthusiasts and professionals. It was designed to answer sensitive mental health questions that young people may have and guide them toward the most suitable mental health care options.
Although we faced budget and time constraints, we were determined to gather feedback to improve the chatbot. We initially conducted usability studies and surveys with adults, but for the teenage segment of the study, we had to adapt our methodology to fit within a tight timeframe.
Drawing on my experience as a school psychologist, my fellow UX Designer and I took a slightly unconventional approach by visiting IT classes to conduct field research.
This allowed us to collect data quickly and cost-effectively through real-time observations, probing questions, and short questionnaires.
Let me share 5 key lessons that I learned:
1. Keep them engaged
While keeping users engaged sounds like a no-brainer regardless of age, it’s especially crucial when it comes to teens. In our study, we purposely did not set a time limit for participants to interact with our chatbot. We wanted to observe how long Numi could hold their attention. For some of them, it was shorter than we expected.
A number of them abandoned Numi after only a brief interaction, opting instead to play a capybara game, where they collected points by clicking on a capybara as fast as possible. This highlights the fact that teens have a low tolerance for slow or unengaging activities as they are accustomed to fast-paced online experiences. However, there’s an additional layer to their choice: they wanted to mindlessly click to have fun, relax, and unwind. We should provide digital experiences that will cater to these needs.
Key takeaway: Provide a fast-paced interaction with the opportunity for fun and relaxation.
2. Think about their peers
But why did they all choose the same capybara game? This behavior is a prime example of conformity, a concept essential to keep in mind when developing products for teenagers. Conformity occurs when individuals conform to the expectations and behaviors of a group to fit in or avoid social rejection.
In adolescence, the opinions and expectations of peers carry greater weight than those of parents, serving as a behavioral model and significantly impacting a teenager’s self-esteem.
The fear of standing out and being perceived as different in front of their peers, could explain why they didn’t want to show too much interest in the chatbot. Alternatively, the group opinion that the capybara game is more fun may have overruled their interest in the chatbot.
By the end of the class, every monitor was lit up with clicking capybara, showing how powerful the peer group’s influence can be.
Key takeaway: Be mindful of conformity in group testing with teens, as it can influence the insights you draw from the research.
3. Don’t underestimate them
If there’s anything I know for sure about teenagers, it’s that they don’t like to be called “kids” and spoken down to. Throughout my practice, I always made sure to address them as equals and to think of them as such. Thinking back to my own teen years and what I would have preferred helps tremendously.
Numi was intended to talk about mental health in an effortless and friendly way, but some of the answers turned out to be too wordy. I hypothesized that it might be a bit challenging to read, but to my surprise, teens found it almost too simple. Some of them stated that Numi provided a lot of basic information about mental health that they already knew and that they wouldn’t mind more complex information.
I almost forgot that Gen Z has a far better understanding of mental health and illness than I did at their age, and discussing these topics no longer carries the same stigma it once did. My clients often come to me much more informed about what’s happening inside them than I would expect.
Key takeaway: While building products for this age group, don’t underestimate their knowledge and skills, treat them as equals, and avoid speaking down to them.
4. Leverage their honesty
When comparing teenagers to adults, I immediately noticed that teens were notably honest and spared no criticism. I am quite aware that this could’ve been a result of researcher bias since they already knew me: this type of bias occurs when the presence or involvement of the researcher in the study influences the participants’ behavior or responses. However, even when I first introduced myself, they were very honest and didn’t hesitate to express their opinions, both positive and negative.
During their interactions with Numi, some of them called me over to tell me how slow it is, where they found a mistake (they were searching for them like treasure hunters), or just to inform me they got bored and decided to play the capybara game instead.
I have rarely experienced such unfiltered honesty with adult users.
In contrast, adults need encouragement to be honest and reminders that their honesty won’t cause any offense. This illustrates social desirability bias, in which participants tend to respond in a way that they believe is socially acceptable or favorable, rather than providing their genuine opinions. Teens might be quite susceptible to this bias within peer interactions, as stated above. However, they appear to be more immune to it in their interactions with adults.
Key takeaway: Encourage and leverage teen honesty, even if it initially feels uncomfortable, as it leads to valuable insights.
5. Let them challenge your perception of usability
One of the standout moments of our field study was when one of the students called me over to see what happened to his chatbot. He wanted to test Numi’s limits by giving him too many commands at once, clicking fiercely just like in their favorite capybara game. This led to an overload of responses from Numi, prompting the student to proudly state that ‘Numi is bugged and should be fixed’.
You could say he was an outlier; not many people would use Numi in this way. However, I believe that including outliers like him lets us uncover and possibly fix issues we might never have anticipated.
None of the adults felt the urge to demonstrate that they could overwhelm the chatbot with excessive commands. Teens on the other hand have the inherent need to challenge the limits of any system, so any interface designed for them needs to have a higher bar of performance.
Key takeaway: Welcome the outliers that use your product in novel, unexpected ways.
Hopefully, these insights can be valuable while building products targeting this age group. No matter which research method you choose, establishing good rapport is essential. In order to do so, it might be helpful to stay attuned to ever evolving trends, capybaras included.
Nonetheless, don’t forget that the teenage mind is a complex and diverse landscape, and any broad generalizations should be avoided. Always remember to acknowledge their individuality and diversity.
