SusBench: An Online Benchmark for Evaluating Dark Pattern Susceptibility of Computer-Use Agents
Proceedings of the 31st International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI 2026). Acceptance rate: 20%.
Project Description
Deceptive designs, also referred to as “dark patterns,” are user interface designs that use psychological tricks to manipulate users into taking actions that serve the product’s interests rather than their own. These designs often seek to extract money, time, or data from their users. The User Empowerment Lab examines deceptive designs in many different contexts, including social media platforms, games, eCommerce sites, and AI chatbots. We conduct experiments to assess the harms caused by specific deceptive designs and we design and test alternative patterns that respect users’ interests.
Publications
Mobile Gambling: Unexplored Risks to Children and Families
Pediatrics, 157(3):e2025073040, 2026.
The Engagement-Prolonging Designs Teens Encounter on Very Large Online Platforms
Proceedings of the 2026 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026). Acceptance rate: 25%.
Trust-Enabled Privacy: Social Media Designs to Support Adolescent User Boundary Regulation
Proceedings of the 21st Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS 2025).
Using Screenshot Data to Examine the Phone Use People Regret
Proceedings of the 2025 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2025). Acceptance rate: 25%.
Problematic Media Use as a Content-Neutral, Enforceable Harm
The Journal of Online Trust and Safety (JOTS), 3(1), 2025.
You Go Through So Many Emotions Scrolling Through Instagram: How Teens Use Instagram to Regulate Their Emotions
Proceedings of the 2025 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2025). Acceptance rate: 25%.
Building the Beloved Community: Designing Technologies for Neighborhood Safety
Proceedings of the 2025 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2025). Acceptance rate: 25%.
Best paper honorable mention (top 5%)
Investigating Attention and Normative Dissociation in Children's Online Social Games
Proceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference (IDC 2024). Acceptance rate: 29%.
'I Just Don’t Care Enough To Be Interested': Teens’ Moment-By-Moment Experiences on Instagram
In Proceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference (IDC 2024). Acceptance rate: 29%.
Tuning into the World: Designing Community Safety Technologies to Reduce Dysfunctional Fear of Crime
In Proceedings of the 2024 ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS 2024). Acceptance rate: 27%.
From Text to Self: Users' Perception of AIMC Tools on Interpersonal Communication and Self
Proceedings of the 2024 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2024). Acceptance rate: 26%.
Best paper award (top 1%)
Sharing, Not Showing Off: How BeReal Approaches Authentic Self-Presentation on Social Media Through Its Design
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (CSCW), 8(CSCW2):1-32, 2024.
Let Kids Wonder, Question and Make Mistakes: How the Designers of Children’s Technology Think about Child Well-being
Proceedings of the 22nd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference (IDC 2023). Acceptance rate: 29%.
SwitchTube: A Proof-of-Concept System Introducing 'Adaptable Commitment Interfaces' as a Tool for Digital Wellbeing.
Proceedings of the 2023 ACM conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI 2023). Acceptance rate: 27.6%.
Best paper honorable mention (top 5%)
Deceptive Design Patterns in Safety Technologies: A Case Study of the Citizen App
Proceedings of the 2023 ACM conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI 2023).
Best paper award (top 1%)
Shame on Who? Experimentally Reducing Shame During Political Arguments on Twitter
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 6(CSCW2):1-18, 2022.
'I Don’t Even Remember What I Read': How Design Influences Dissociation on Social Media
Proceedings of the 2022 ACM conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI 2022). Acceptance rate: 24.7%.
Monitoring Screen Time or Redesigning It? Two Approaches to Supporting Intentional Social Media Use
Proceedings of the 2022 ACM conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI 2022). Acceptance rate: 24.7%.
Prevalence and Characteristics of Manipulative Design in Mobile Applications Used by Children
JAMA Network Open, 5(6):e221764, 2022.
How the Design of YouTube Influences User Sense of Agency
Proceedings of the 2021 ACM conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI 2021). Acceptance rate: 26%.
Is Someone Listening? Audio Related Privacy Perceptions and Design Recommendations from Guardians, Pragmatists, and Cynics
Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies (IMWUT), 5(3):1-23, 2021.
From Moral Panic to Systemic Change: Making Child-Centered Design the Default
International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, Special Issue in Review Articles in Child-Computer Interaction Research (IJCCI), 31(100351), 2021.
'Everything's the Phone': Understanding the Phone’s Supercharged Role in Parent-Teen Relationships
Proceedings of the 2019 ACM conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI 2019). Acceptance rate: 23%.
Modeling the Engagement-Disengagement Cycle of Compulsive Phone Use
Proceedings of the 2019 ACM conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI 2019). Acceptance rate: 23%.
Laughing is Scary, but Farting is Cute: A Conceptual Model of Children’s Perspectives of Creepy Technologies
Proceedings of the 2019 ACM conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI ’19), 73:1-15. Acceptance rate: 23%.
Let's Play! Digital and Analog Play Patterns between Preschoolers and Parents
Proceedings of the 2018 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2018). Acceptance rate: 25.7%.
What Makes Smartphone Use Meaningful or Meaningless?
Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies (IMWUT), 2(1):1-26, 2018.
Coco’s Videos: An Empirical Investigation of Video-Player Design Features and Children's Media Use
Proceedings of the 2018 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2018). Acceptance rate: 25.7%.
Best paper honorable mention (top 5%)
Why Would You Do That? Predicting the Uses and Gratifications Behind Smartphone-Usage Behaviors
Proceedings of the 2016 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp 2016). Acceptance rate: 26%.
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