Software In Information Security |

ABSTRACT:

Young people do not tend to use the term cyber bullying',and there are strong norms towards 'seeing the joke' where online behavior isconcerned. The context of offline relationships is crucial in deciding whethercertain actions online are acceptable or not - for instance, posting 'joke' orembarrassing photos or videos of friends or acquaintances online. Theparticular implications of online exposure are not significant for youngpeople. They often do not distinguish between doing something embarrassing orharmful to someone and putting an image of this online. The authorsconclude:First, young people conceptualise risk in terms of immediate,quantifiable consequences of behaviour. Young people's concepts of risk arelargely formed through the stories in the news media and were negotiated interms of the likelihood of a negative consequence, including being caught. So,for example, where activities such as plagiarism, activities equating to adultdefinitions of 'cyberbullying' and lax attitudes to privacy are concerned,young people feel relatively free from consequence, and therefore do notconsider such activities to be 'risky'. Second, young people do not reflect ontheir online behaviour. This extends to young people's lack of awareness of theimplications of online exposure of themselves and others, a limited concept ofthe audience who may be viewing their activities online, and the extent towhich they are willing to take information accessed online at face value.Overall, these findings suggest that young people's technical expertise canoften exceed their understanding. This is the gap which policy must bridge toensure that young people are not needlessly putting themselves at risk onlineand instead can get the most out of what the internet has to offer.