Teens, kindness and cruelty on social network sites

Part 3: Privacy and safety issues

Introduction

In this section of the report, we discuss some of the key issues that relate to teens’ privacy practices and risks to their online safety. We present findings on certain behaviors that teens engage in that may, depending on the circumstances, serve as protective measures or have risky implications for the sanctity of their online information. Some of these risky behaviors, such as falsifying age information, are relatively common, while activities like “sexting” appear to be more isolated. The privacy choices that teens make when using social network sites serve as an important indicator for understanding the level of publicity that accompanies their interactions in these spaces.

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Copyright 2013 Pew Internet & American Life Project

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project is one of seven projects that make up the Pew Research Center. The Center is supported by The Pew Charitable Trust.