Friday, August 30, 2013

US teens and privacy: study

Two research reports this month from the Pew Internet American Life project, on teens and digital privacy.
Lenhart, A. et al. (2013) Where Teens Seek Online Privacy Advice.
"Many teens ages 12-17 report that they usually figure out how to manage content sharing and privacy settings on their own. Focus group interviews with teens suggest that for their day-to-day privacy management, teens are guided through their choices in the app or platform when they sign up, or find answers through their own searching and use of their preferred platform. At the same time, though, a nationally representative survey of teen internet users shows that, at some point, 70% of them have sought advice from someone else about how to manage their privacy online. When they do seek outside help, teens most often turn to friends, parents or other close family members." http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Where-Teens-Seek-Privacy-Advice.aspx

Madden, M. et al. (2013) Teens and Mobile Apps Privacy
"As teens gain access to mobile devices, they have embraced app downloading. But many teen apps users have taken steps to uninstall or avoid apps over concern about their privacy. Location information is considered especially sensitive to teen girls, as a majority of them have disabled location tracking features on cell phones and in apps because they are worried about others’ access to that information. Here are some of the key findings in a new survey of U.S. teens ages 12-17:
58% of all teens have downloaded apps to their cell phone or tablet computer.
51% of teen apps users have avoided certain apps due to privacy concerns.
26% of teen apps users have uninstalled an app because they learned it was collecting personal information that they didn’t wish to share.
46% of teen apps users have turned off location tracking features on their cell phone or in an app because they were worried about the privacy of their information."
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Teens-and-Mobile-Apps-Privacy.aspx
Photo by Sheila Webber: Cat in Sheffield Botanic gardens seeks its privacy

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