Mining PEW- Teens, Social Media, and Privacy

Beaton, M., Cortesi, S., Duggan, D., Gasser, U., Lenhart, A., Madden, M., & Smith, A.  (2013, May 21). Teens, social media, and privacy.  PewResearchCenter Internet, Science & Tech. Retrieved June 13, 2015, from http://www.pewinternet.org/files/2013/05/PIP_TeensSocialMediaandPrivacy_PDF.pdf

The report I read was about teens, the social media networks they are part of, and the issues they face while dealing with the importance of privacy settings on these platforms.  I totally agree that the “Internet” has replaced the telephone, television, game console, and just listening to the radio and I’ve learned that youngsters are not fond of doing such things anymore. Unfortunately, our teenagers are now wrapped around Internet use and social media networks instead of watching television or playing outside. I see it with my own kids, nieces, and nephews. I believe rules should be in place to try to control the amount of time our kids are on line. I believe proper training and guidance on how to safely use social media networks is necessary from our part as parents. Unfortunately, whether we like it or not, our kids will access these networks and become members, therefore, if they are joining might as well talk to them about the risks they may have if these networks are not used properly and safely. Facebook and Twitter are the number one networks been used by teens, regrettably, many of the young kids today are not enjoying using Facebook since sometimes it is seen as a utility and an obligation rather than an exciting new platform that they can enjoy and claim as their own.

I learned that teens’ Twitter use has grown and that one in four (24%) online teens uses Twitter compare to 16% use in 2011. I found out that Facebook attracts about 77% of online teens and that 24% of teens are Twitter users. According to this study, eight in ten online teens uses some kind of social media, “Wow….that’s a lot of teens!” I knew kids used online media networks, but I didn’t think it was that many. I hope all of these teens are getting advice on how to properly and safely use these networks. I would have never thought Facebook was this popular among teens.

I also learned that overall, 82% of online teen users are considered social network sites’ users such as Facebook and Twitter. Could it be that some teens are falsifying their names and ages in order to become members of Facebook and that may be the reason why the percentage of Facebook use is high? Again, this percentage seems slightly too high and makes me wonder of how many hours these teens are online? Do they really have nothing else to do other than being on these networks? This report is helping me understand statistics on these social network platforms so that I know how to handle these situations with my own teenagers. I learned that teens visit the sites several times a day. According to this study, 42% of teens said they have visited the sites several times a day and 25% reported doing so once a day. Whatever the reason, reality is that 94% of teen social media users have Facebook profiles and 81% say Facebook is the one they use the most often. It seems that older teens continue to visit social media sites the heaviest. I believe that the older these teens get, the more acquainted they are with these social media networks, and the more they use them the more addictive to it they become. They may perhaps feel the need to be checking and checking to verify what others have said about their postings.

Furthermore, I learned that Facebook may have another face in some teens’ eyes. I now know that although many of these teens have a social media account it doesn’t necessarily mean that they like or care for the site. I understand that Facebook can be fun to use, but some teens do recent it. They associate Facebook with constraints through an increasing adult presence, high pressure or otherwise negative social interactions such as “drama,” or they can feel overwhelmed by others who share too much. I’m not a teenager, but I totally understand them, as I became a member of Facebook three weeks ago and it already caused me some turmoil with some relatives since I didn’t accept them as friends. In a couple of days, I’ve learned that it can cause drama.

I believe some teens rely on using other social media since their parents, aunts, older cousins may be part of Facebook. I understand them too, when they say that Facebook users may imply things even though that’s not what they meant to say. Therefore, many teens reported having different accounts and using different sites for different purposes. I think teens decide on what social media networks to join based on what it is they want to share. For instance, they know that in Facebook, they can pretty much share from a comment to a picture and a little too much; Twitter, they can share quick thoughts as they can only share so many characters; Snapshot, they can only share short videos and quick pictures, and Instagram is mainly for sharing pictures. In other words, based on what they need is that they choose their social media networks. Some have a profile in each one and divide what they want to share between the four. I believe if teens are doing this, this is a great idea because this way may make them feel more secure about not dealing with drama issues and in a way it helps them control who views their postings. Overall, I believe teens change from social media networks based on the interactions and experiences they encounter while on line with these networks. They may perhaps, want spaces free of adults and free of drama.

Some teens are posting too much personal information once they become members of these networks. This decision may put them in risky situations. 92% post their real name, 91% post a photo of themselves, 84% post their interests, 82% post their birthdates, 71% post their school name, 71% post the city where they live, 62% post their relationship status, and 20% post their real cell phone numbers. These are high percentages and makes me wonder of how safe these teens are from strangers getting a hold of them. Any "friends" can access their information and can locate them in real life. The social media platform asks for all of this information, but I think it’s up to the person whether to share all of their information or not. I further read and found out that 16% of teen social media users have setup their profile to automatically include their location in their posts. I believe they shouldn’t do that because strange people could access that information and find out where they live and they could break in into their homes if no one is home. The chance of that occurring may be slim, but why take any chances. Now, if teens are automatically allowing the setting's system to post their locations and their parents are reading the messages or posts then I think that’s is okay because this way the parents know where their child is at and they wouldn’t worry about their where-abouts.

Teens are also taking into consideration, which pictures they post in their social media networks. Some stress out too much I would think. They worry about posting a profile picture because according to the study, the picture has to be better than the previous one. They post pictures in order to get “likes” and the more “likes” they receive the more popular they become on the network. They believe that this network’s popularity transfers to real life settings, which I learned that it does. I think they need to consider the pictures and messages they post because it could hurt them in the long run. I know that there have been times in which teens have used a compromising picture and tagged it onto their friends’ pages and have caused embarrassment to the person involved in the picture. If it’s an embarrassing picture, it may continue to be tagged on and cause teens to feel uncomfortable and they may begin to encounter self-esteem issues. The threat of such attacks is one reason teens get motivated to regulate their content. It is important that they are careful with what they decide to post, since they, like other Facebook members have different kinds of friends in their online social networks that can view mostly everything that gets posted or tagged. Based on the results of this study, 98% of Facebook teen users are friends with members of their extended families, 89% are friends with members who do not attend their school, 76% are friends with brothers and sisters, 70% are friends with parents, and 33% are friends with people they have not met in person. I will say that it is good for teens to be friends with their parents, so they can be monitored at all times, but in a way that the teen doesn’t feel over protected or that their privacy has been invaded. The same thing with having brothers and sisters as friends, they can help each other, they can learn to get to know each other better, and to be there for one another in time of need.  

I also read on privacy settings. Teens and adults have a variety of ways to make available or limit access to their personal information online. For instance Facebook, since it’s the most popular network, users can choose which people to friend or unfriend. They can choose to use default privacy settings or decide who can see certain parts of their profiles by restricting the view to individual posts. I believe posting restrictions on who can view their profile is good because then that tells me that the teen user is in control, but only when they keep up with the settings. But it is sad to know that only 3 out of 10 teens (30%) check their Facebook settings within a week and by not constantly checking their posting settings is how they can lose track of who can view their postings and their Facebook profiles. I learned that the majority of teen Twitter users have public accounts. While there are many similarities in use of social media, I believe each has its own affordances that shape how youth uses technology. This also affects the types of privacy settings that are available to them.

I also learned that teens with large Facebook friends’ networks are more frequent social media users and participate on a wide diversity of platforms in addition to Facebook. I believe they do this because they become dependent of the platforms. They become needy to hear what others are saying about them. They become too passionate of the network and what others think of them. I also learned that these teens share all of their personal information in all of these social media networks, which again I must say, puts them at risk from being followed by weird strangers. They become vulnerable for online sex-predators and parents are extremely worried for their teen’s well-being. To back up my believe, I read that 53% of parents showed concerned of their child’s interactions with strangers, 49% were worried of their teen’s reputation, 46% were worried that their child’s information may be available to advertisers, and 44% of the parents were concerned that their teen relating too much information may hurt them with future opportunities.

I am happy to say that I read on the importance teens place on taking steps on how they take care of their reputations. Some teens do take some steps into taking care of themselves in this matter. I found out that 59% have deleted or edited something they posted, 53% have deleted comments from others, 45% have removed their name from photos, 31% have deleted or deactivated their profiles, and 19% have regretted sharing something. It is important that teens do take care and worry about their reputations. Putting too much information on these online social media networks can lead to having a stranger contact them. I read that 17% of the teens involved in this study have experienced been contacted online by someone they didn’t know. It is a good idea to unfriend or block friends they really don’t know or have never met before. I agree with what other teens are doing to avoid been contacted by strangers. They are sharing comments in jokes or in coded messages that only friends will understand. Also, if teens post a fake name, age, or location it could help deviate some of these online predators. I’m also glad to read that some teens have decided not to post something online out of concern that it will reflect poorly on them at a later time. I would like to see more teenagers advising each other, since they are the ones viewing each other’s posts. They can help each other by advising one another if one has posted too much information, or information that could eventually hurt them in some way, or that it may attract a stranger’s interest.

The same way teens have experienced negative experiences, they have also experienced positive online encounters. I read that 52% of online teens said they have experienced online situations that have made them feel good about themselves, although it was older teens that reported this type of experiences. I’m thinking it’s probably comments and likes they must have received from their friends. If they posted a picture and received many likes that would definitely make them feel good about themselves. If they made a comment on a posting and others tagged it because they agreed with their comment then that may have caused them to also feel good about themselves. Other teens mentioned how been online has helped them get closer to someone else. I’m assuming someone listened to their concerns and the other person advised them on those issues and that may have made them feel connected to that person. They probably felt like they found someone that listens to them and understands them.

Reality is that many teen users don’t think of the risks involved when they exposed their entire life out for everyone to see when privacy settings are ignored. Teens could perhaps receive online advertising that is inappropriate for their age. Teens could perhaps be contacted by an online maniac and make them feel insecure. I think teens could even feel apprehensive and unsafe while out on the streets. Therefore, I am glad that many online teen users do unfriend and block people they don’t know or don’t feel comfortable with. They also go back and delete comments and compromising pictures that may hurt them in the future. Overall, many teen social media users do make the content they share more private and are conscious of who views what they post. If all online social media teen users would take all of the precautions mentioned above then they would not have to deal with being worried as to who views their content, how their information may be used, and best of all not having the experience of meeting a stranger online. They really need to learn how to use the different social media networks in a safer and more responsible way for their own good.  

78 pages (Report) (155 pages read out of 150)