Alexis Hiniker
January 21, 2025
Study finds strong negative associations with teenagers in AI models
A UW team studied how AI systems portray teens in English and Nepali, and found that in English language systems around 30% of the responses referenced societal problems such as violence, drug use and mental illness. The Nepali system produced fewer negative associations in responses, closer to 10% of all answers.
July 16, 2024
Even on Instagram, teens mostly feel bored
New research from the University of Washington finds that teens open Instagram because they’re bored. Then they sift through largely irrelevant content, mostly feeling bored, while seeking interesting bits to share with their friends in direct messages. Then, eventually bored with what researchers call a “content soup,” they log off.
July 18, 2023
Learning from superheroes and AI: UW researchers study how a chatbot can teach kids supportive self-talk
Researchers at the University of Washington created a new audio chatbot, Self-Talk with Superhero Zip, aimed to help children speak positively to themselves. This chatbot is “a ‘Sesame Street’ experience for a smart speaker.”
May 23, 2022
‘I don’t even remember what I read’: People enter a ‘dissociative state’ when using social media
Researchers at the University of Washington wondered if people enter a state of dissociation when surfing social media, and if that explains why users might feel out of control after spending so much time on their favorite app.
September 13, 2021
Do Alexa and Siri make kids bossier? New research suggests you might not need to worry
A team led by UW studied whether hanging out with conversational agents, such as Alexa or Siri, could affect the way children communicate with their fellow humans.
April 19, 2021
Arguing on the internet: UW researchers studying how to make online arguments productive
UW researchers worked with almost 260 people to understand online disagreements and to develop potential design interventions that could make these discussions more productive and centered around relationship-building.
April 14, 2020
How families can use technology to juggle childcare and remote life
UW researchers are beginning a national study to help families discover technology that helps them both successfully navigate home-based learning and combat social isolation.
April 13, 2020
‘I saw you were online’: How online status indicators shape our behavior
After surveying smartphone users, UW researchers found that many people misunderstand online status indicators but still carefully shape their behavior to control how they are displayed to others.
May 16, 2019
Children describe technology that gives them a sense of ambiguity as ‘creepy’
University of Washington researchers have defined for the first time what children mean when they say technology is “creepy.”
April 29, 2019
Patterns of compulsive smartphone use suggest how to kick the habit
UW researchers conducted in-depth interviews to learn why we compulsively check our phones.
August 6, 2018
Alexa, be my friend: Children talk to technology, but how does it respond?
When young children talk to voice-activated technologies, the devices don’t always respond in a helpful way. A new University of Washington study suggests that these interfaces could be designed to be more responsive – repeating or prompting the user, for example – and be more useful to more people.
May 21, 2018
Designed for evil: How to make bad technologies better
Through Alexis Hiniker’s Designing for Evil course, which is unique to the UW, students have identified “emerging evil” technologies and redesigned them so that they are more likely to enhance — not detract from — users’ lives.
May 1, 2018
Apps for children should emphasize parent and child choice, researchers say
Parents don’t need to fear their children playing with iPads and other devices, researchers say. Mindful play with an adult, combined with thoughtful design features, can prove beneficial to young developing minds. New research shows that thoughtfully designed content that intentionally supports parent-child interactions facilitated the same kind of play and development as analog toys.
