Almost 1 in 3 Teenagers has Online Regrets by Age 16

Almost 1 in 3 Teenagers has Online Regrets by Age 16

Today, AVG Technologies’ has announced the results of their most recent Digital Diaries survey, an ongoing global study of the effects of technology on childhood across nine countries.

With the proliferation of social networks and the introduction of ‘anonymous’ messaging apps, the potential for online ‘over-sharing’ is becoming a major concern. Teenagers are one age group thought to be particularly at risk as they may engage in this activity before fully realising the implications.

AVG spoke to teenagers (between 11 and 16), about their attitudes to oversharing and online privacy in general, and found that by the age of 16 almost one in three teenagers (27% NZ and 28% globally) already regrets posting something online.

• 39% of kiwi kids have asked someone to remove content posted about them online, 18% of who said it was because it was too personal
• Of those who have asked for removal of content, 29% had to ask their mum to remove it, compared to 18% of global respondents
• Surprisingly, 59% of NZ parents check up on their children’s homework habits more often than they check what they are posting online (27%)
• Kiwi parents are also notably less aware of their children’s online habits with just 30% knowing some or all of their children’s passwords, well below the global average of 70%

Additional key results for New Zealand include:

There is an assumption that because these children were bought up in the digital age they must have an innate understanding of how to protect themselves online, however:
• 15% have had a secret/something they didn’t want others to know revealed online
• 66% of kiwi teens said they understand what privacy means
• Many are now realising the importance of privacy with 74% changing their settings on Facebook to make it more difficult for people to find them

Stranger Danger
• Almost one in ten of the teenagers AVG spoke with said they would trust someone who asked to meet after chatting minimally (13%) and 18% would trust someone who pretended to know someone in their family
• Only 35% of teens could claim to know all of the people they are friends with on social media

Parents are being kept at arm’s length, despite their best efforts
• A third of New Zealand children have said that they have caught a family member looking at their device without permission
• Two fifths of kiwi kids say that their parents only know what they choose to share with them about their online activity, as they do not have access to any of their accounts

Methodology:
AVG commissioned an online survey interviewing teenagers between the ages of 11-16 to identify privacy awareness and practices in the following markets: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States. A total of 3,999 teenagers carried out the survey during September 2014.

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