Dr. Pamela Wisniewski received the Test of Time Award at the 16th Symposium on Usable Security & Privacy (USEC 2026) for her CSCW 2017 paper, “Parental Control vs. Teen Self-Regulation: Is There a Middle Ground for Mobile Online Safety?”
The award recognizes the paper’s enduring impact on usable security and privacy research. Nearly a decade later, its central message remains highly relevant: protecting teens online requires more than surveillance, restriction, and parental control. Effective online safety must also support adolescents’ autonomy, self-regulation, resilience, and developmental needs.
As part of the award, Wisniewski delivered the keynote “In a Time of Moral Panic: Is There a Middle Ground for Adolescent Online Safety?” She reflected on nearly a decade of research showing that young people actively navigate tradeoffs among safety, privacy, autonomy, and social connection.
Drawing on this body of work, Wisniewski called for evidence-based approaches to adolescent online safety, including Safety by Design and socio-ecological models that distribute responsibility across platforms, families, communities, and young people themselves.
Her central message: Controlling teens online is not the same as keeping them safe.