• Teens at Risk of Cyberstalking

    Teens at Risk of Cyberstalking

    Techtree News Staff, Feb 21, 2006 1643 hrs IST

    Teen bloggers often reveal their actual names, age and offline locations, putting them at risk for cyberstalking.

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A study of 68 randomly selected weblogs produced by teenagers aged 13 to 17 finds that teen bloggers often willingly reveal their actual names, age and offline locations, putting them at risk for cyberstalking and cyberbullying.

In "Teen Blogs Exposed: The Private Lives of Teens Made Public," David Huffaker, a Northwestern University researcher finds that half of all teenage bloggers link to other bloggers, and often include a "friends list." Sixty-seven percent of teen bloggers provide a comment section in order to get feedback from readers of their blogs.

From a developmental perspective, Huffaker says, blogs play a positive role by offering teens a place to construct narratives and share stories. "These activities are important to identity exploration, which is one of the principal tasks of adolescence. What's more, the mechanics of these online diaries, with their opportunities to link to and get feedback from peers, also aid teenagers in creating and maintaining social ties."

The randomly selected teen blogs - equally divided between male and female teens and with a mean age of 15.47 years - were examined for content and amount of personal or private information revealed.

Seventy percent of the teens disclosed at least their first name, 67 percent revealed their age, and 61 percent provided their contact information either in the form of e-mail (44 percent), instant messenger name (44 percent) or a link to a personal home page (30 percent). Fifty-nine percent of those who provided contact information, disclosed the city or state in which they reside.

"Studying teen blogs highlights the fact that blogging is not an individual pursuit in the way teen diaries once were. Instead, blogs are used by teens to form a small or large community," said Huffaker.

On the positive side, blogs give teens an opportunity to share their stories and feelings. "They provide a venue in which they can reflect upon their experiences. The ability to create a community online also bodes well for future social development," Huffaker said.

Almost half of all the blogs included discussions about boyfriends, girlfriends, or attractions to someone in the form of a "crush." Seventeen percent of those who wrote about their own sexuality discussed homosexuality and their experiences of "coming out."

Not surprisingly, 71 percent included commentary about school-related topics, such as grades, homework, high school, college or college pressure. Almost half of the online diaries discussed aspects of music, including use of MP3 players, songs, lyrics, favorite bands and concerts.

Huffaker found the positive effects of blogging on verbal and digital literacy and social interaction to be accompanied by some negative effects. "The dangers of sexual predation by adult strangers and of bullying by peers, are sometimes unfortunate products of the teen blogging phenomenon."

Unlike the tattered, leather-bound teen diary of olden times, online teen diaries can be read not only by members of the family "sneaking a look," but also by strangers with questionable intentions.

Huffaker cites a study in which 2,500 children aged 10 to 17 years of age reported being harassed or threatened online. In another study, one in five teenage Internet users said they'd been approached or received sexual solicitation within their last year of Internet use. One in 33 reported being aggressively solicited by predators who asked to meet them, called them on the phone, or sent them letters, money or gifts.

Despite their apparent frequency, these incidents of predation seldom were reported by teens to parents, school administrators or other authorities, according to the surveyed teens.

Huffaker says some of the negatives of blogging can be thwarted by blog software packages that offer the opportunity to make one's online diary "friends-only" by including password protection.

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Teens at Risk of Cyberstalking



Discussion Board
(6) Comments
Cheese
,Ok, on May 22, 2007 06:51 AM
I think this a good article. I like how it highlights the positives of blogging and how that is helpful to teens. I do think some commenting here don't understand how many really go after teens and pre-teens on the net. It is very important to be cautious. I don't know that just a name and state will do much, but I do think that content can lead a perpetrator to someone: the type of picture, what they talk about, etc. Of course the perpetrator will want to contact the person whether in person or via e-mail. I think caution and talking with teens and pre-teens about the age-old "talking to strangers" and what you say to them - whether in person or online - is important. If things do seem wrong then perhaps starting a new page somewhere else with a fake name would be a good way to go. Yeah, we can overemphasize it, but don't just say it's not gonna happen to my teen.
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Salmos73
,Michigan, on Feb 24, 2006 11:42 PM
I think this a good article. I like how it highlights the positives of blogging and how that is helpful to teens. I do think some commenting here don't understand how many really go after teens and pre-teens on the net. It is very important to be cautious. I don't know that just a name and state will do much, but I do think that content can lead a perpetrator to someone: the type of picture, what they talk about, etc. Of course the perpetrator will want to contact the person whether in person or via e-mail. I think caution and talking with teens and pre-teens about the age-old "talking to strangers" and what you say to them - whether in person or online - is important. If things do seem wrong then perhaps starting a new page somewhere else with a fake name would be a good way to go. Yeah, we can overemphasize it, but don't just say it's not gonna happen to my teen.
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john the baptis
,mt Zion, on Feb 24, 2006 07:21 PM
you need to go to battlecry.com and do your ( MYSPACE ) ( ZANGA ) etc. there in a safe enviroment. If you are a true beliver in Christ and he is your personal savior. Then you would wake up and smell the coffee and not get caught up in what the world is doing. Be yourself and dont follow what others are doing and if you dont feel convicted then go ahead and put your info out there and then again you may not be a beliver in Christ in the first place.
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Eternity Juggal
,Bellinghm, on Feb 21, 2006 08:34 PM
This is just silly. MYSPACE users are actually very aware of the concept of stalking, and less and less people would be aware that myspace is a place to stalk if articles like this weren't written. And I don't see the big deal at all since this form asks my name, city and email... you'll always find sexual solicitation as long as there is sex, and as long as males and females exist. You get it at school, work, while out in life, in your car while driving on the home, and worst of all (which you can read in ALOT of blogs), at HOME!
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Carmelo Grajale
,Chicago, on Feb 22, 2006 11:29 PM
WOW! This generalization of MYSPACE users only leads me to believe that you don't have a 12 yr. old son being solicited by some freak on MYSPACE. I'm all for a person having a space they call their own, and that's what some of the defensive outrage is really about. It's an environment that young people finally can have for themselves. YOURSPACE! As a Youth Pastor for over 20 yrs. I like the idea that you can have YOURSPACE. As a parent who's always prided himself in providing his 3 sons their own room their OWNSPACE. This I totally understand. But your defensive posture is all wrong. Defend YOURSPACE against what could go wrong by listening to the feedback of those who want you to ave it in the first place. It's true, you are a target, Just picture your own bedroom as a place that's filled with broken glass and old candy rappers and chewing gum spread all over your floor. This is what it probably looks like on campus. But I'm talking about YOURSPACE. Prov 2:12-14
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Orla Quirke
,Madison, on Feb 22, 2006 04:18 AM
Sexual predators are going to find me with my first name and state? I know there are a dozen people in my state with the same name (first and last) as me; granted, I have a common name, but there's a second "me" at my dentist. Also, you're making the assumption that information given online is truthful; that's a big assumption. The numbers regarding how many gave out information like screen names and e-mail addresses - so what? Generally these are as confidential as you make them, and if anyone gets creepy, there are handy block buttons. Anything found on a personal web page is likely about the same stuff on the blogs - boys, music, parents, etc. Nothing new or informative. People do need to user a certain amount of caution online, but for people to interact, there has to be some information given - that's the way it works. P.S. Really, why does a predator go through all the work of finding out this information (enough to find the person), then travel all the way there to stalk said person? Wouldn't it be far easier to skip the legwork, drive 150 miles in any direction, hang out by a school at 3 for a few days, and pick someone then?
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