Infographics on Teens and Mobile Apps Privacy

Teens and Mobile Apps Privacy

Madden, M. & Lenhart, A. (2013). Teens and mobile apps privacy. Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from: http://www.pewinternet.org/Press-Releases/2013/Teens-and-Mobile-Apps-Privacy.aspx

As an 8^th grade teacher at a lower income school, I am continually amazed at the technological devices that teens pull out of their pockets and backpacks.  They often have better phones and tablets than I have, and they know how to use them better, too.  I just got my first iPhone this Christmas, though my husband grimaced at the price and the data plan required.

I chose to read an article on teens and how they feel about privacy, access of information, and location tracking features.  To tell the truth, I was a bit surprised that teens even think about these things.  I assumed that they were naïve, willingly divulged personal information, and clicked OK or ALLOW to every query presented.  However, it seems that many teens are concerned with privacy, often taking steps to uninstall or avoid all together applications that collect personal information they don’t wish to have known.  Girls, in particular, tend to turn off location tracking devices.  Maybe their parents have drilled them about internet safety or maybe they just don’t want their parents keeping tabs on them.

The easel.ly infographic below gives a summary of the information I learned.

Which teens (of the 58%) are downloading apps?  I was a bit surprised to find that boys who own mobile devices are more prone to download an app than are girls.  Not surprising is that teens who have wealthier parents are more likely than those living in poorer households to download an app.  The article states that there doesn’t seem to be much difference based on a parent’s education level, race, or ethnicity.  The piktochart.com infographic below depicts this information.

Teens say that they mainly download social media and game apps, and primarily the free ones.  Even though more than half of all teens between 12-17 years old who have a smart phone or tablet have downloaded apps, more than half of these app users have avoided particular apps due to worries about sharing personal information and location.

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