Week 3: Thoughts on the Whys of Managing Information Online

(Reading found at bottom)

According to the article, “young adults are the most active online reputation managers in several dimensions. When compared with older users, they more often customize what they share and whom they share it with,” (PIP p.2) and “are not only the most attentive to customizing their privacy settings and limiting what they share via their profiles, but they are also generally less trusting of the sites that host their content.” (PIP p.2) Throughout the rest of the paper, various stats and percentages are given that support this generalization, based on the surveys done. But most important to me is this interpretation of the numbers. The quotes are a lot to unpack, but overall, they say that young people (specifically ages 18-29) are more active and more careful than those older than them in managing their online presence. That brings up the question of why this is the case. After all, younger people are typically viewed as the ones that take more risks in their life, so why isn’t this the case here? Why are younger people more cautious in terms of the information they share online? I think it has to do with how we (since I am a part of this generation too) were much more exposed to the entire online concept as children. For older generations, the Internet hasn’t really been a factor in a majority of their lives. It really gained popularity when the older generations were already adults. By contrast, the younger generations (more or less) grew up in an environment where the Internet was already more or less established, so a much bigger emphasis was placed on learning how to deal with it. I still remember computer classes in middle school where we would do activities that showed how much information can be found out about someone online, and subsequently told to be careful with what we share online. I also have siblings that are older than me, and they also gave a lot of advice in terms of dealing with the Internet. In a sense, the younger generation was able to experience the dangers of the internet at a much younger age than older generations, and therefore that idea is much more ingrained in our minds. Just like learning things are a lot easier when younger, the younger generation was able to pick up on this concept much better and much earlier than older generations, since the older generations didn’t have to deal with it until they were older. Therefore it makes sense that younger people are more active in managing themselves online, since they’ve learned about the dangers of the Internet from an early age. Of course, this is not to say that all young people do this, far from it. But what is important is that a higher percentage of young people do it when compared to the percentage of older generations that do it, and that is as a result of the differences in upbringing between the generations, as I see it. The younger generation was simply more exposed to the Internet at an earlier age. We are more aware of and wary of everything that happens on the Internet.

            Another point that was brought up in the study was the fact that “over time, adult internet users have actually become less likely to express concern about the size of their digital footprints,” (PIP p.21) which seems to run somewhat counter to the point brought up above. But it is also interesting to see the stats from the individual age groups. According to the study, those in the age range of 30-49 are most concerned, at 38% of respondents saying they are concerned about the amount of information online. By comparison, the stats for ages 18-29, 50-64, and 65+ are 30%, 31%, and 23%, respectively (PIP p.21). This provides a clearer picture, as well as gives me some ideas about why this might be the case. The way I see it, those ages 30-49 are the generation that were introduced to the Internet at an early-adult age (a very big assumption of course, but bear with me). As a result, they are likely pretty aware of the dangers of sharing information on the Internet, but aren’t quite as informed as the younger generation in terms of dealing with that fact, with privacy settings and the like. That still leaves the other generations, and why they are at lower percentages with this question. My explanation is that the younger generation is more informed on how to protect themselves on the Internet and properly manage their information. Then the older generations are less worried because they probably use the Internet a lot less than those that are younger than them. Additionally, they likely share less information on the Internet as well, perhaps even because they don’t know how or they feel no need to. From my experience, older people often have the mindset of “you mind your business, I’ll mind mine,” and therefore they aren’t concerned about information about them online as long as it doesn’t affect them negatively. Those are my explanations for why there are these differences between the generations, but it’s possible that they are wrong. Based on the table on page 19, there is some indication that older generations have less information online anyways, which supports this idea. One thing that I wanted to just mention in connection to this idea is the fact that study also notes that “worries about the availability of personal information and taking steps to limit that information are tightly linked with the amount of searching (both personal searches and searches about others) one takes part.” (PIP p. 23) This is talking about the population as a whole, not a specific generation. This seems to suggest that the more one checks on how information is being handled online, the more worried one gets about one’s own information online, which makes logical sense. The more one is aware of the consequences, the more one tries to work towards preventing negative results. I think of it this way: if someone sees that their friend or someone “had a bad experience” (as the study calls it) on the internet because of information that wasn’t properly protected, the more likely that that person will protect their own information. If you were almost hit by a car crossing the street, chances are you’ll be more careful crossing the street in the future, to use a more concrete analogy. Yet at the same time, overall, people have become less worried about their information online. To me this indicates one of two things: either people are being more careful about what information they post and how they manage it, or people are simply less informed about the negative effects that could happen as a result of improper protection. Personally I believe it is the latter, but this is where you come in, dear reader.

What do you think about the younger generation being more active on the internet, and do you agree with my reasoning behind it? Or is there perhaps a different reason that younger people manage their information more?

What about the different generations worrying differently about their information? Can you see it in your life? And why is it like that? Do you think it is because of what I suggest? Or perhaps your view is different? And what about the general trend of people worrying less?

Let me know what you think about these ideas.

           

Reading for the Week

            -Reputation Management and Social Media – Pew Internet Research Group (abbr. PIP)

            http://www.pewinternet.org/files/old-media//Files/Reports/2010/PIP_Reputation_Management_with_topline.pdf