Teenagers are avid users of Discord, a fast growing platform for synchronous communication where they often interact with strangers. Because Discord combines private DMs, semi-private voice channels, and public servers in one place, it creates a hybrid environment that can produce complex and underexplored safety risks for teenagers. Drawing on 16 interviews with teenage Discord users, this study examines their strategies for navigating risky social interactions in the platform. Our findings reveal that when teenagers encounter risks during social interactions, they exercise vigilance by evaluating suspicious interactions before forming friendships, using safety tools, and engaging in controlled risk-taking to safeguard their privacy and security. At the community level, they mitigate risks through selective participation in servers, a practice supported by vigilant governance structures. We discuss how vigilance enables teenagers to act during risky encounters to protect themselves, advancing understanding of teenagers' agency in risk navigation and informing teen-centered designs for safer online environments.

翻译：青少年是Discord平台的活跃用户，该平台作为快速发展的同步通信工具，常成为青少年与陌生人互动的场所。由于Discord将私信、半私密语音频道和公共服务器整合于单一空间，这种混合环境可能对青少年产生复杂且尚未被充分探究的安全风险。本研究通过对16名青少年Discord用户的深度访谈，系统考察了他们在该平台上应对高风险社交互动的策略。研究发现：当青少年在社交互动中遭遇风险时，他们会通过以下方式保持警惕——在建立友谊前评估可疑互动、运用安全工具、以及通过可控的风险承担行为来保护隐私与安全。在社群层面，他们通过选择性参与服务器的策略来降低风险，这种实践受到警惕性治理机制的支持。本文探讨了警惕性如何帮助青少年在风险遭遇中采取自我保护行动，深化了对青少年风险应对自主性的理解，并为构建以青少年为中心的安全网络环境设计提供了理论依据。