Online child safety and literacy

Teenagers’ online safety and literacy Lee Rainie – Director, Pew Internet Project Point Smart / Click Safe Summit June 10, 2008

Five hallmarks of the

world of digital natives

Hallmark 1

Teens’ internet

environment is changing and they are becoming more intense users

2000 73% of teens use internet ~8% with broadband at home <30% own a cell phone ?? connect to internet wirelessly = slow and stationary connections 2008 94% of teens use internet 73% with broadband at home 71% own a cell phone ~70% connect to internet wirelessly = fast and mobile connections Status update: The internet then and now

Teen use of the internet intensifies

Hallmark 2

Content creation is integral to teens’ internet experience

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64% of teens

44% of adults

58% of online teens have created their own profile on a social network site like MySpace or Facebook

(it’s the girls!)

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33% of online adults have such profiles

Content creation

47% of teens have uploaded photos to the internet

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34% of adult users have done this

Content creation

39% of online teens share their own creations online, such as artwork, photos, stories, or videos

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21% of online adults have done this

Content creation

28% of teens have blogs – up from 19% in 2004

(it’s the girls!)

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12% of online adults have a blog

Content creation

26% of online teens report keeping their own personal webpage

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14% of online adults have their own page

Content creation

Content creation 26% of online teens say they remix content they find online into their own artistic creations ---- 11% of online adults have done this

14% of teens have uploaded videos to the web

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14% of all adult internet users have done this

Content creation

19% of online young adults have created an avatar that interacts with others online

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6% of all adult internet users have done this

Content creation

Hallmark 3

Teens’ are using their digital tools to reshape their communications

patterns

Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Teen/Parent Survey on Writing, September-November 2007. Margin of error is ±5%. 16% Send email 23% Send messages through a social networking site 29% Send instant messages 35% Talk on a landline or home phone 35% Talk on a cell phone 36% Send text messages on cell phone 39% Spend time in person outside of school All teens (n=700) % of teens who engage in each activity every day Daily Social Communication Choices

Hallmark 4

Multi-tasking is a way of life

for teens

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Many live in a state of “continuous partial attention”

– Linda Stone

Kaiser Family Foundation, Generation M, March 2005

Hallmark 5

Teens are facile with technology but many are not yet fully fluent in the new literacies the digital world requires, especially “self literacy”

Update old survival wisdom: Be safe

Don’t talk to strangers, especially about sex

Pew Internet findings: 32% of online teens have been contacted online by a complete stranger.

Of teens who have been contacted, 23% say they were made scared or uncomfortable by the stranger contact. Overall, 7% of online teens experienced disturbing stranger contact.

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4% of youth received aggressive online sexual solicitation where the solicitor tried to make offline contact; 4% faced solicitation of pictures.

-- Crimes Against Children Research Center – Univ. of New Hampshire

Update old survival wisdom: Be smart

Don’t go into certain virtual neighborhoods

25% of youth who use the internet regularly had one or more unwanted exposures to sexual pictures while online in the “past year.”

73% came during surfing

27% came via email or IM

Update old survival wisdom: Be skeptical

Don’t believe everything you read or everything that someone tells you, especially about themselves

In the majority of sex crimes against youth, offenders did not deceive the teens about the fact that they were older and were interested in sex. However, the attackers seduced the youth by being understanding, sympathetic and flattering, and by appealing to the teens’ interest in romance, sex and adventure.

Self literacy: New competency 1

The ability to manage your identity in a way that appropriately takes account of the risks of how online activity can lead to disclosure of sensitive personal information.

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Beware of online predators, especially information predators!

Don’t overshare because lots of people AND machines will be watching!

The capacity to give appropriate attention to your online reputation and assign appropriate weight to the words and images about you that appear online

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How to deal with cyberbullies…

32% of online teens have been targets of annoying and potentially menacing online activity -- rumors, threats, pictures, disclosing private communications

The skill to be socially successful in navigating the new boundaries of social networks and “friendships.”

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Friend is now a verb!

Not everyone friending you can possibly be the truest kind of

FRIEND

The competence to exercise social intelligence when you can be “present” anywhere, any time to anyone even when you are not physically there.

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How to have good manners in a world of where multiple audiences can be aware of you … and where “absent present” and “present absence” are new realities.

Thank you!