Where Teens Seek Online Privacy Advice (Pew Article)

Lenhart, A., Madden, M., Cortesi, S., Gasser, U., & Smith, A. (2013, August 15). Where teens seek online privacy advice. Retrieved November 30, 2015, from http://www.pewinternet.org/files/old-media//Files/Reports/2013/PIP_TeensandPrivacyAdvice.pdf

When teens are online privacy is very important. Teens have to be smart and cautious when they are online in order to protect themselves and their private information. Although teens rarely like advice from their parents, when it comes to online privacy they do seek out help from their parents.

According to the article, Where Teens Seek Online Privacy Advice, most 12-17 year old teens report that they rely on themselves and to manage their privacy settings online and on social media. They achieve this by either doing their own research about online privacy or by exploring their options on the apps or platforms they are using. Many of them stated that they learned by trial and error or online tutorials. Although most teens only depend on themselves for online protection and privacy the survey conducted did find that teens are willing to ask for outside help when they have questions about online privacy. The survey found that 70% of teens have looked for outside help from friends, parents, and close family members.

• 42% have talked to friends or peers
• 41% have talked to a parent
• 37% have asked a sibling or cousin
• 13% have gone to a website for advice
• 9% have asked a teacher
• 3% have gone to some other person or resource

The study also found that girls are more likely than boys to seek help when it comes to online privacy. I believe this because boys prefer to be independent and find their own answers. A lot of times I have seen that their egos get in the way and they do not want to ask for help. In my classroom it is often my female students that ask for help and not the boys. As a matter of fact a lot of times the girls come ask me to go help the boys because they will not come ask me themselves.

I found very interesting that the survey found the younger teens ages 12-13 are more likely to ask a parent or teacher for help with online privacy than teens ages 14-17. In my opinion this happens because younger teens still value and trust the advice from teachers and parents. Older teens feel more independent and self-reliant so therefore do not seek the advice of parents and teachers. Some of the older teens even stated that their parents were too old and would not know how to manage online privacy settings. Others teens stated that their teachers probably would not even know how to set privacy settings.

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