Youth Safety on the Social Web
Larry Magid & Anne CollierCo-directors
ConnectSafely.org
Revised 1/09© 2009 ConnectSafely.org
What is the social Web?
--Also known as ‘Web 2.0’--• User-produced, youth-driven• Multiple devices• Multimedia• Uploadable, downloadable• Difficult to control
Web 1.0 …
On Web 2.0...
-- Michael Kinsley, Slate.com, 11/27/06
“...everybody knows you’re a dog.”
Social networking is whatever…
…anyone wants it to be!
• Entertainment + socializing + homework help + media-sharing + creative outlet + friends’ latest news
• A place to learn digital-media skills
• A “hangout” on Web, phones, gaming
Today’s phones are full-blown mobile computers with...• Mobile social networking • Social mapping• Photo- & video-sharing• Web browsing• 24/7 texting• Even less adult supervision
Cellphones too
Majority of teens in social sites
• 65% of teens use social networks and create profiles (Pew/2009)
• 70% of 15-to-17-year-old girls• 48% of teens visit sites daily or more often; 26% visit
once a day22% visit several times a day
Source: Pew Internet & American Life survey
Not just MySpace & Facebook
YouTube, MyYearbook, Bebo, Hi5 & many niche social network sites
Ning: Allows users to create their own social networks, or mini-MySpaces. Allows porn (with splash page).
Twitter & Plurk: Micro-blogging - 140 characters or less. Kind of like blended chat & IM. Twitter mostly adults, Plurk a little younger.
Second Life & other virtual worlds: Users create avatars that interact in a virtual world.
Hulu: Fast-growing video-sharing site (153 million video streams, 9/08); popular for viewing whole shows online
And some are a bit more questionable….JuicyCampus Gossip site, total anonymity, no rules.…Stickam: Social video-streaming site with live webcam chat.
What are they doing in there?
Good or “normal”…
“Social producing” Learning social rules Decorating profiles (self-
expression) Exploring identity Writing blogs Writing software code
Risk assessment Discovering music Producing & editing
videos Discussing interests Social/political activism Keeping in touch with
friends long-term
What else are they doing in there?
Neutral or negative…
Seeking validationCompeting in a
popularity contestVenting Showing off
Embarrassing themselves
Pulling pranksGetting evenHarassing
The ‘Net effect’• Persistence & searchability: Net as permanent searchable
archive• Replicability: ability to copy and paste from anywhere, to
anywhere• Scalability: high potential visibility• Invisible audiences: you never know who’s watching• Collapsed contexts: different audiences hear & see different
things• Blurring of public and private: boundaries not clear
Source: danah boyd: Taken out of Context, 2008
Mostly for real-life friends
• 72% use sites to socialize with their real-life friends.
• Only a modest number (17%) of social-networking teens say they use the sites to flirt.
Source: Pew Internet & American Life surveyJanuary 2007
Teens do have a clue when it comes to safety & privacy
• 66% of teens who have created a profile say that their profile is not visible by all Internet users. They limit access to their profiles.
• 21% say their profile is not currently visible.• Just 1% of social-network users say they do
not know who can see their profile.
Source: Pew Internet & American Life surveyJanuary 2007
Are they careful about photos?
Yes and no (more on Web than on phones)• Cellphones: Reports of“sexting” (nude photo-
sharing) are growing• Web: 39% say they restrict access to their photos
“most of the time.” • 38% report restricting access “only sometimes.” • 21% of teens who post photos say they “never”
restrict access to the images they upload. (Online adults are more lax in restricting access.)
Source: Pew Internet & American Life surveyJanuary 2007
Teens are alive today, thanks to social-networking
sites…
Plan To 'Shoot Up' School FoiledJan 12, 2009: “Deputies in Transylvania County said they got a call from a sheriff's office in New York. A teenager there apparently came forward and said she met a 15-year-old on MySpace who said he had a dangerous plan.”
Question:What proportion of teens have been approached online by a
predator?
A. 1 in 20B. 1 in 10C. 1 in 7D. 1 in 5E. Almost half
It’s a trick question
What the surveys really said
The survey asked “Did you receive an unwanted sexual solicitation in the past year”
• The response went from 1 in 5 in 2000 to 1 in 7 in 2005. An improvement• 43% of all solicitations and 44% of aggressive solicitations came from youth• 39% of solicitors were adult but all but 9% of those were between 18 and 25• Two-thirds or more of the youth described solicitations as not particularly
distressing• The number of children actually molested went from none in 2000 to 2 (out of
1500) in 2005. It can happen, but it’s statistically very rare.
Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years LaterCrimes Against Children Research Center, 2006
Question
Do you agree that the growth in young people’s use of the Internet correlates
with a rise in sexual abuse against children?
10
15
20
25
1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004Rate
per
10,
000
Child
ren
(<18
)
Source: NCANDS / Finkelhor & Jones, 2006
51% Decline (during the period of the Web’s existence)
Answer: No
Confirmed cases of child sexual abuse
Deception rarely involved
• Victims are aware of the approximate age and sexual intentions of the adults who contact them.
• Only 5% of offenders pretend to be teens. • In some cases, the kids are being aggressive and
sexually suggestive and pose in ways to make themselves look older than they are.
--Janis Wolak, University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center (paraphrase, not exact quote)
What causes risk?
• Aggressive behavior in the form of making rude or nasty comments increased the odds of being victimized 2.3 times
• Frequently embarrassing others increased the risk almost 5 times
• Meeting people in multiple ways increased the odds 3.4 times• Talking about sex online with strangers doubled the risk• Engaging in multiple risky behaviors puts you at greatest risk• Posting personal information is not related to victimization
Source: Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, Feb 2007Ybarra, Mitchell, Finkelhor, Wolak
The kids most at risk online are those at risk
offline• Online risks are not radically different in nature or scope
than the risks minors have long faced offline.• Minors most at risk in the offline world continue to be most
at risk online.• The psychosocial makeup and family dynamics surrounding
a child are better predictors of risk than the technology used.
• Messages need to be tailored to the child. One-size-fits-all doesn’t work.
•
Source: Internet Safety Technical Task Force Report, January 2009
More likely risks
• Damaged reputation• Emotional hurt• Self-created child
porn• Negative validation• Defamation
• Impersonation• Permanent archive• Inappropriate content• PC security• Cyberbullying…
Cyberbullying• The risk that affects the most children• 2 separate studies: About 33% of US teens have
been harassed or bullied*• Online harassment (more common) vs. bullying• Cyberbullying: repeated aggression; associated
with real life; power imbalance• It’s more a developmental than a technology
problem
Sources: Patchin and Hinduja, 2006; Pew/Internet, 2007; Crimes Against Children Research Center, 2007
Signs of cyberbullying
• Loss of friends• Depression• Anxiety• Loss of sleep• Doesn’t want to go to school• Covers screen or turns off device when others
come into room*
*can also be a sign of an inappropriate online relationship
What to tell kids facing cyberbullying
• Don’t react (often the bully’s goal)
• Don’t retaliate• Block the bully• Save the evidence• Talk to a trusted adult
Keys to finding solutions• Understanding that the teenage brain is “a work in
progress” (brain takes up to 25 years to develop)
• What’s happening online is more about adolescent behavior/development than tech
• Net = amplifier, searchable archive, pretty permanent; User/producers have multiple invisible audiences
• Collaborative solution-making needed
To summarize
The social Web… • is good and bad for teens• is a fact of life - not going away• is user-driven (little control)
Social Web safety requires…• Growing understanding of benefits, risks• Multiple forms of expertise• Collaborative, long-term response• Targeting real risks not high-frequency, low-risk
behaviors
Thank you & please visit our forum at
www.ConnectSafely.org
Larry MagidCo-director, ConnectSafely.org
Anne Collier,Co-director
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