Teens and Online Privacy

We all live in a world where oversharing is apart of our daily lives and privacy is a priceless commodity.  Teens are major players in the online world and research shows that they do care about their online privacy and reputations...kind of.  The Pew Research Center presented information on how teens deal with privacy issues, their online reputations, how teens feel about other accessing their information and age inappropriate advertisement.



Lenhart, A. (2013, June 25). Teens, Social Media, and Privacy: Reputation 
     management, third party access, & exposure to advertising [PowerPoint
     slides]. Retrieved November 12, 2015, from Pew Research Center website:
     http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/06/25/
     teens-social-media-and-privacy-reputation-management-third-party-access-exposure-
     to-advertising/

1.  Teens do care about online privacy.
My Take:  This is music to my ears.  It seems like most kids today who grow up watching reality television share everything in hopes to get their 15 minutes of fame, regardless of the cost.  What they don't realize is that whatever they do online can been seen potentially by millions.

2.  Teens are still the main users of social networking sites.  They still prefer to use Facebook as their main social media platform.  Instagram and Twitter come in second and third.
My Take:  I'm not sure I agree with this.  Most teens I have asked don't use either one of these platforms.  More and more I am seeing teens I work with gravitate toward apps like Snapchat.  I believe Facebook caters to an older crowd (I include myself in that statement), and Twitter and Instagram are waning in their popularity. 

3.  Teens are sharing more than before on social media  They share information like their name, school and city.  Fewer are sharing more personal information like an email or phone number. The platform is a key indicator if they make their accounts public or private.  On Facebook, the majority of teens with make their account private or partially private.  However, if they are using Twitter, the majority of teens make their tweets public.
My Take:  This stat scared me.  It only takes one person to disseminate this information of a multitude of people.  Once this information is out there, no telling in whose hands it will end up in.

4.  Teens actively try to manage their online reputations.  The majority they will delete their own posts if they feel it will damage their reputation.  In additional, they will untag photos, delete comments and in extreme cases, delete their online accounts.  One regulatory used methods teens use to control their online reputations is to unfriend or block those who they feel threaten their online presence.
My Take:  I'm glad they are conscious of their reputations.  You see too many stories on the news of a teen making one mistake online and it ends up haunting them for a very long time.


5. Most teens are not very concerned about who has access to their information.  This may due to that fact that teens do not even know how third party vendors are using their information.  However, parents feel very different.  Most parents are very concerned about strangers having access to their child's information online.  Many parents are concerned how teens are seen online will have impacts on them in the future when they are trying to secure employment.
My Take:  Are you kidding me?  I'm hoping this is just a byproduct of being young and that feeling that you are invincible as a teen.  There is no 20/20 vision here. 

6.  Some teens (around 30%) have been exposed to advertising that is inappropriate for their age.
My Take:  I'm not surprised.  Advertisers are getting smarter and finding ways to get to teens.

When all is said and done, it is so important to show kids and teens how to use the internet and be good digital citizens.  I try to take every opportunity I can to talk about issues like these with my children and students.  You never know whose reputation you may be saving.

Slides: 26