Helena Opower Helena Opower This paper explores how social media platforms such as Instagram can be adapted to better support the needs of teenagers. The aim is to protect young users while helping them develop conscious, healthy habits online. Building on this goal, a set of features was designed to promote positive content, reduce harmful interaction patterns, and strengthen digital well-being. The work follows an iterative, user-centered design approach grounded in design thinking. The theoretical foundation discusses adolescent brain development, the psychological impact of social media, and manipulative design mechanisms such as dark patterns. A qualitative study involving interviews and a feature-sorting workshop examined how teenagers use the platform and what challenges they experience. The data was analyzed with qualitative content analysis according to Mayring using MAXQDA. These findings informed the development of an interactive prototype for an “Instagram Youth” version. The prototype included selected features derived from user stories and was evaluated through usability testing with eight teenagers and four parents, using Thinking Aloud sessions and Likert scale ratings to capture usability and relevance. The paper concludes with a practical set of design recommendations for creating safer and more ethically aligned social media environments. These guidelines aim to support designers and developers in building digital platforms that prioritize user well-being and offer constructive, development-focused experiences. This article has been double-blind peer reviewed. PDFDocument eng 2026-06-16T08:41:24.522923209Z Human-Computer Interaction Human-computer interaction ÖFOS 2012 -- NATURWISSENSCHAFTEN (1) -- Informatik (102) -- Informatik (1020) -- Human-Computer Interaction (102013) ÖFOS 2012 -- NATURAL SCIENCES (1) -- Computer Sciences (102) -- Computer Sciences (1020) -- Human-computer interaction (102013) Mensch-Maschine-Kommunikation Soziale Medien MCI <Kommunikation> Human computer interaction Mensch-Maschine-Dialog Mensch / Maschine / Kommunikation Mensch-Maschine-Interaktion Mensch-Computer-Kommunikation Mensch-Computer-Interaktion HCI <Kommunikation> Social Media Ethische Theorie Philosophische Ethik Moralphilosophie Sittenlehre Moral / Theorie Jugend Jugendlicher Teenager Jugend <12-20 Jahre> Jugendalter Medienkompetenz Neue Medien / Schlüsselqualifikation Media Literacy Neue Medien / Handlungskompetenz Medienkonsum Mediennutzung Medien / Nutzung Medien / Konsum Medienhandeln Instagram Youth-Centered Social Media Design Ethical Digital Design Conscious Media Use Instagram Youth Adolescent Media Behaviour 6543603 b application/pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/