Privacy on the Internet

This survey of Americans found that large percentages of young adults (those 18-24 years) are in harmony with older Americans regarding concerns about online privacy, norms, and policy suggestions. In several cases, there are no statistically significant differences between young adults and older age categories on these topics. Where there were differences, over half of the young adult-respondents did answer in the direction of older adults. There clearly is social significance in that large numbers of young adults agree with older Americans on issues of information privacy. A gap in privacy knowledge provides one explanation for the apparent license with which the young behave online. The problem is even more pronounced when presented with offline privacy issues – post hoc analysis showed that young Americans were more likely to answer no questions correctly than any other age group. The study concludes that that young-adult Americans have an aspiration for increased privacy even while they participate in an online reality that is optimized to increase their revelation of personal data.

Hoofnagle, C. J., King, J., Li, S., & Turow, J. (2010).

How different are young adults from older adults when it comes to information privacy attitudes and policies? Young Adults and Privacy. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1589864