One in Three Indian youth have been cyberbullied due to risky online behaviour, reveals McAfee report
Findings from Tweens, Teens and Technology 2014 Report accentuates that young people must commit to online safety
India, 10 November 2014—McAfee, part of Intel Security, has releasedfindings of its annual study, the Tweens, Teens and Technology 2014 report, which examines the online behaviour and social networking habits of Indian tweens and teens, and aims to educate on the impact that risky behaviour has on their privacy, reputation and social media experiences.
According to the research, half(50%) of the youth in India have had some experience with cyber-bullying (been cyberbullied online or witnessed others being cyberbullied), out of which one-third(36%) havebeen cyberbullied themselves. This behaviour was perceived to result in anger and embarrassment, showcasing how online behaviour translates into offline impact. The study highlights how risky online activity can possibly make them even more susceptible to cyberbullying, substantiated through some of the following statistics.
Need to be constantly connected
An eye-opening trend is that half (52%) of India’s youth even access their social media accounts while at school, withtweens (57%) being more connected during school hours than teens (47%). Even though the minimum age to register to on social networking sites like Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest, Tinder, Tumblr, and Vine is 13, 10-12 year olds report higher daily access to than their teen counterparts.
Oversharing of risky information
Despite a majority (80%) of Indian youthbeing aware that their online activity can affect their identity, 92% have done or posted something risky online.An added fact is that of these, 70% have posted their contact details like email, phone and home address.
Youth are increasingly trusting unknown people in the virtual world, in spite of being aware that it is risky. 53% have met someone in person that they first met online.63% of youth do not turn off their location or GPS services across apps, leaving their locations visible to strangers.
Finding Social Acceptance
Another critical concern stemming from peer pressure is youth feeling compelled to portray an untrue image of themselves online. 64% even admit to trying to reinvent their online personas making themselves appear older, creating fake profiles or posting photos that are not their own. Moreover, 46% say they would put themselves in danger to see more engagement/ activity on their posts (e.g., more likes, comments, shares or retweets).
Lack of parental involvement
Only 46% say their parents have had a conversation with them about online safety. Others say their parents simply don’t care (52%).
Melanie Duca, APAC Consumer Marketing Director, McAfee, part of Intel Security says, “Teens and tweens are very comfortable operating in the online world, yet the risks have never been greater. Young people are often the pioneers for new technologies so they need to understand the consequences of their online behaviour and how they can maintain their social engagement.”
The findings of McAfee’s Tweens, Teens & Technology 2014 report were released at a panel discussion with Melanie Duca, Consumer Marketing Director (APAC) McAfee; Venkat Krishnapur, Vice-President of Engineering- Consumer and Mobile, McAfee India; Anindita Mishra, McAfee Cybermum India; and, Dr. Sunil Mittal, a leading psychiatrist in NewDelhi on November 10, 2014.
Speaking about new-age parenting challenges, Anindita Mishra, McAfee Cybermum India said, “The findings of the study reaffirm that the online behaviour of youth needs much more involvement from parents than they are currently providing. As a result, I believe there is an urgent need for parents to update themselves on potential threats such as cyberbullying and become part of their children’s online experience to ensure they aren’t navigatingalone through an unrestricted virtual world.”
“Internet-enabled devices collect information about online behaviour, track location and links to social mediaaccounts which are vulnerable to threats that can disrupt devices and extract personal data leading tocyberbullying and identity theft,” said VenkatKrishnapur, Vice-President of Engineering- Consumer and Mobile, McAfee India Centre, McAfee, part of Intel Security. “Education is key to empowering both parents and children with the tools to tackle these risks. In fact, McAfee also recently announced the launch of Intel Education’s Cyber Wellness Curriculum that is a comprehensive guide for this purpose.”
Melanie Duca continued, “McAfee is dedicated in making the internet safe by providing resources to help educate and protect families.As a result, we need to do our part to provide appropriate assistance and teach them to STOP, THINK & CONNECT online.”
Top 5 Tips for Parents to Help Educate Their Kids:
- 1. Connect with your kids. Casually talk to them about the risks of all online connections and make sure the communication lines are open.
- 2. Gain access. Have passwords for your children’s social media accounts and passcodes to their children’s devices to have full access at any given moment.
- 3. Learn their technology. Stay one step ahead and take the time to research the various devices your kids use. You want to know more about their devices than they do.
- 4. Get social. Stay knowledgeable about the newest and latest social networks. You don’t have to create an account but it is important to understand how they work and if your kids are on them.
- 5. Reputation management. Make sure your kids are aware anything they post online does not have an expiration date.
McAfee’s Tweens, Teens & Technology Report 2014 was conducted through a survey administered across Indian online tweens aged 8-12 years old and teens aged 13-17 years old; comprising 711 male and 711 female respondents from Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune.
Annexure 1- India Analysis Sheet- McAfee’s Tweens, Teens& Technology Report 2014
Necessary dose of internet usage
- 70% of online youth in India spend more than 5 hours on the internet in a normal week. Internet access is still predominantly desktop based (41%), however, 36% use laptops and 27% use smartphones
India’s youth are constantly connected
- In terms of social networking platforms, Facebook is by far the most popular site used (93%), followed by YouTube (87%) and WhatsApp (79%).
- 10-12 year old social account users report higher daily access to Snapchat, Pinterest, Tinder, Tumblr, and Vine than their teen counterparts, even though the minimum age to register to these social networking sites is 13 years.
- An eye opening trend is that half (52%) of India’s youth even access their social media accounts while at school; 57% being 8-12 years old v/s 47% 13-17 year old.
Too much information
- Youth often overshare what would be considered private information publicly, both intentionally and unintentionally. Despite majority (80%) of Indian youthbeing aware that their online activity can affect their identity, out of 90%who have done or posted something risky online, 70% have posted their contact details like email, phone, home address.
- Youth are becoming more trusting of the virtual world to familiarise themselves with unknown people, in spite of being aware that it is risky. 53% have met someone in person that they first met online. As a majority have interacted online with people they don’t know in person: 52 % Chatted during online gaming, 49% on TV show fan pages and 42% live tweeting celebrities and others during a live show.
- 63% of youth do not turn off their location or GPS services across apps, leaving their locations visible to strangers, and only 46% enable privacy settings on their social networking profiles to protect their content.
Finding social acceptance
- Two-thirds (66%) of youth in India say they feel more accepted on social media than they do in real life. 72% feel important or popular when they receive a lot of "likes" on the photos posted of themself on social media.
- Keeping up to the social pressure, 64% even admit to have tried reinventing themselves online by trying to appear older or creating a fake profile or posting photos that are not their own. Moreover, 46% say they would put themselves in danger to see more engagement/ activity on their posts (e.g., more likes, comments, shares or retweets).
Digital ignorance
- More than half claim that online risks do not apply to them and, therefore, lack concern about their online privacy: 55% think they are not old enough to worry about my identity being stolen and 51% say they don’t care about having privacy online.
Online behaviourdriving offline consequences
- Unfortunately, social networks are causing a majority (88%) of Indian youthto experience negative situations in their offline lives:
- 53% of youth have been involved in an argument because of something posted on social media, 46% got into trouble at home or school as a result of being on a social network site.
- 34% of youth stated they regretted posting something online.
Hide and Don’t Seek: Youth would change their online behavior if they knew their parents were watching
- Although 70% of youth believe their parents trust them to do what is right online, 64% of young people in India still manage to hide their online behaviours from their parents and 61% think their parents can't keep up with them when it comes to technology. 62% would still change their online behaviour if they knew their parents were watching.
Cyberbullying
- Despite significant efforts to discourage cyberbullying, and its negative effects, Two-thirds (66%) of youth in India have had some experience with cyber-bullying.
- 36% of youth having been cyberbullied themselves. Of those who responded they were cyberbullied, 46% responded it was due to appearance while 45% answered due their intelligence level. 40% stated religion/race was the driving factor.
- Of the 33% who say they have witnessed cyberbullying of others, 46% said the victims deleted their social media accounts and 42%said the victims became less social, underscoring its significant emotional impact.
- While the study reveals cyberbullying continues to represent a serious problem for youth, the 2014 survey found 57% of youth would not know what to do if they were harassed or bullied online.
Privacy concern
- Youth share a variety of fears regarding risks they face online, including: fear their privacy will be compromised (26%) and fear of being hacked (23%). Notably, these fears are greater thanthe fear of being cyberbullied (18%) orunpopular (12%).
Lack of parental involvement
- Only 46% say their parents have had a conversation with them about online safety. Others say their parents simply don’t care (52%).
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About Intel Security
McAfee is now part of Intel Security. With its Security Connected strategy, innovative approach to hardware-enhanced security, and unique Global Threat Intelligence, Intel Security is intensely focused on developing proactive, proven security solutions and services that protect systems, networks, and mobile devices for business and personal use around the world. Intel Security combines the experience and expertise of McAfee with the innovation and proven performance of Intel to make security an essential ingredient in every architecture and on every computing platform. Intel Security’s mission is to give everyone the confidence to live and work safely and securely in the digital world. www.intelsecurity.com.
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About McAfee Cybermum India
McAfee Cybermum is an initiative by McAfee that educates parents on different ways to keep their kids safe in the virtual world. The Cybermum initiative was launched in India after its success in US and Australia where thousands of kids, teens and parents have been educated by McAfee.
In India, McAfee has appointed Anindita Mishra as McAfee Cybermum India. Anindita is a Pune-based freelance writer, teacher and mother of two. She is a vocal advocate for issues tied to children’s welfare and development, making a concerted effort to engage with concerned parents and educating them on precautions and steps they should take in order to protect their family in cyberspace.
Twitter handle: @McAfee_cybermum
Facebook profile: McAfee Cybermum India
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