Location-based information is considered sensitive for many teen apps users. Some 46% of them have turned off the feature on their cell phone or in an app because they were worried about other people or companies having access to that information. However, some of the people they are concerned about may be their own parents. As early as 2009, the Pew Internet Project found that about half of parents of teen cell phone owners said they used the phone to monitor their child’s location in some way.9
Girls are far more likely than boys to say that they have turned off location tracking features on their cell phone or in an app. Among app downloaders, 59% of teen girls said they had disabled location tracking, compared with just 37% of teen boys. Teens of all ages are equally likely to turn off location tracking features on their phones and apps.
As is the case with avoiding and uninstalling apps, the likelihood that a teen apps user will disable a location tracking feature does not vary significantly according to the parent’s income, education level or race and ethnicity.
Focus group participants understood that apps can access various data on their smartphones and tablets, such as their pictures, contacts, or location. In many cases, they reported that they did not allow an app to access their location, unless they thought it was necessary.
Interviewer: “Do you ever worry about what kind of data apps are taking from your phone?”
Male (age 18): “They [the app] request [access to personal information]. I didn’t really know what it [the app] was using it [personal information] for. Like an app wanted to use location services for some reason. But I didn’t see the reason why.”
Female (age 19): “It [the app] tells you what it does on the description thing. It tells you that it can collect data if it wants to. So you’re aware of that.”
Female (age 17): “You can just reject the [app’s access to] information and still get the app.”
Female (age 13): “I always hit ‘don’t allow’ to use my location.”
Male (age 13): “Yeah, I hit don’t allow when it says that [this app would like to use your current location]...unless it’s very necessary for the app.”
Female (age 13): “Like Google Maps – if you’re trying to find your way to somewhere, [sharing your location is] necessary.”
However, some focus group participants aligned with the less concerned segments of teen apps users and did not express a high level of concern that apps might collect information about them. Although some reported deleting apps (along with the data stored on their devices) when they no longer used them, they did not report any concerns about the app continuing to have their information through app-specific accounts or other means.
Male (age 13): “I usually just hit allow on everything [when installing an app]. Because I feel like [the app] would get more features. And a lot of people allow, so it’s not like they’re going to single out my stuff. I don’t really feel worried about it.”
Female (age 16): “I think the only apps I’ve ever had that accessed my pictures were my Facebook and my Twitter. But if I have pictures, they’re probably already out there.”
Female (age 19): “I mean, the only thing on my phone is just pictures and messages. So it’s not really like, “oh, you’re [the app company] going to take my identity or anything,” so it doesn’t really matter.
Male (age 16): “I felt fine with it [apps accessing my personal information]. I always let them access my pictures and everything.”
In the survey, teens who had at some point sought outside advice about privacy management were considerably more likely than those who had not sought advice to say that they had disabled location tracking features. As the Pew Internet Project reported recently, 70% of teen internet users have sought advice from someone else at some point about how to manage their privacy online.10 Among these “online privacy advice seekers” who own mobile devices, 50% have turned off the location tracking feature on their cell phone or in an app, compared with 37% of those who have not sought outside advice on ways to manage their privacy online. Avoiding and uninstalling apps was equally prevalent among advice seekers and non-seekers alike.
Full Pew Internet Mobile Apps Privacy Report Online
Where Teens Seek Online Privacy Advice by Amanda Lenhar, Mary Madden, Sandra Cortesi, Urs Gasser, Aaron Smith
Overview
Many teens ages 12-17 report that they usually figure out how to manage content sharing and privacy settings on their own. Focus group interviews with teens suggest that for their day-to-day privacy management, teens are guided through their choices in the app or platform when they sign up, or find answers through their own searching and use of their preferred platform.
At the same time, though, a nationally representative survey of teen internet users shows that, at some point, 70% of them have sought advice from someone else about how to manage their privacy online. When they do seek outside help, teens most often turn to friends, parents or other close family members.
About the Survey
These findings are based on a nationally representative phone survey of 802 parents and their 802 teens ages 12-17. It was conducted between July 26 and September 30, 2012. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish and on landline and cell phones. The margin of error for the full sample is ± 4.5 percentage points. In collaboration with the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard, this report also includes insights and quotes gathered through a series of in-person focus group interviews about privacy and digital media, with a focus on social networking sites (in particular Facebook), conducted by the Berkman Center’s Youth and Media Project between February and April 2013. The team conducted 24 focus group interviews with a total of 156 participants across the greater Boston area, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara (California), and Greensboro (North Carolina).
Where Teens Seek Privacy Advice/Pew Internet Research Center's Internet and American Life Project
More Articles
- Jo Freeman's Review of Yippie Girl: Exploits in Protest and Defeating the FBI
- CDC’s First Nationally Representative Survey of High School Students During the Pandemic Can Inform Effective Programs
- Rose Madeline Mula Writes: I’ve Got A Secret – NOT!
- Senate Commerce Subcommittee Set ... Protecting Kids Online: Testimony From a Facebook Whistleblower
- Where We Stand: Partial Draft of Democratic Party Platform Already Voted Upon By Delegates; Covid-19 Pandemic Is a Prime Focus
- Correspondence Course: I Come From a Family of Communicators
- England's Information Commissioner's Office, Publishes Code to Protect Children’s Privacy Online: "We need our laws to protect children in the digital world too”
- Sanditon by Jane Austen And Another Lady: "Women drive this ... They're so well written ..."
- Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana: A Tale of Two Women Painters
- Stories Behind the Numbers: When Laws Make Divorce Easier, US Census Bureau Research Show Women Benefit