This study aimed to rethink adolescents’ cognitive autonomy in the context of social media and to conceptualize its dimensions, challenges, and requirements for enhancement from the perspective of experts. The study employed a qualitative approach and thematic analysis. The research participants comprised experts in communication studies, sociology, adolescent psychology, and cyberspace studies in Tehran and Karaj. Sixteen participants were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected during the Iranian year 1405 (2026–2027) through face-to-face semi-structured interviews and analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase thematic analysis procedure. Sample adequacy was assessed based on the richness of the data and the informational adequacy of the interviews. The trustworthiness of the findings was established according to Lincoln and Guba’s four criteria of credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. The findings revealed that adolescents’ cognitive autonomy in networked life is a dynamic quality of judgment shaped through the interplay of critical evaluation, information validation, cognitive and emotional self-regulation, dialogic engagement, reflective reconsideration of judgments, and awareness of platform logic. Its principal challenges included accelerated communication flows, ambiguity surrounding credibility, pressure for social approval, platform-driven direction of attention, erosion of concentration, and dependence on networked feedback. The findings indicate that cognitive autonomy cannot be strengthened solely through control or general warnings; rather, it requires safe dialogue, instruction in information validation, self-regulation, platform awareness, responsible agency, and coordinated educational support from families and schools.