Teens, Social Media, and Privacy

A current concern tied to cyberspace and social media is the level of privacy of personal profiles held by teens.  This concern is shared by parents, step-parents, foster parents, guardians, and advocates.  This generation of teens has grown up alongside cyberspace; when they were born, 1994 – 2000, internet use and availability were growing exponentially in every household.  Teens inevitably want to have personal profiles on social networking websites that may include: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Myspace. But will they be safe?  Will they properly set their profile’s security and privacy settings?  Will they ask for help if they are unsure about how to set these parameters?  If they ask for help, who will they ask?

Majority of teens ask for advice

70% of teen internet users have asked for or sought out advice on managing their privacy online (Lenhart, Madden, Cortesi, Urs & Smith, 2013).  If they are seeking advice, who from?  It appears that those teens that do ask for help in either setting their privacy or discussing the level of their privacy, ask those closest to them.  Similar to the building of trust and who people trust more than others, teens will ask for advice from those closest to them in regards to social privacy.  The highest percentages of who teens ask for help were people they knew personally.  42% - 37% was the range for groups asked for advice that included friends, parents, and siblings or cousins.  The lower percentage groups sought for advice, 13% - 3%, included websites, teachers, and other persons or resources (Lenhart, Madden, Cortesi, Urs & Smith, 2013).  This is reassuring because a majority of teens will seek advice when they require any from those personally trusted people.  As a parent, I welcome hearing these facts.  I pray that my children will feel free in asking me or my wife regarding on-line social privacy, as well as any other life question they may have.  For all other adults responsible for children, please be aware of privacy settings in social media in the case your teens ask you.

Summary:  Who is likely not to ask for advice and why

The two exceptions: the teens who seek advice are more likely than non-seekers to block other people and to delete or deactivate a profile entirely (Lenhart, Madden, Cortesi, Urs & Smith, 2013).  Teens that do not ask for advice are not as keen on these websites.  They are unaware or uncaring about protecting themselves from others.  Boys were found to ask for advice less than girls.  Also, those not seeking advice not block people and are more likely to share coded messages or inside jokes.

If you are an adult in charge of children I urge you to talk to your children about privacy in social networking sites.

 

 

Reference

Lenhart, A., Madden, M., Cortesi, S., Urs, G., & Smith, A. (2013, August 15). Where teens seek online privacy advice. Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Where-Teens-Seek-Privacy-Advice/Main-Findings/Teens-and-online-privacy-advice.aspx