Adolescents and negligent social media use

Abstract

Digital technology has evolved very quickly in a very short space of time, to the point at which it is now a personal technology that manages the information and communications of users who access the different services offered over the Internet - users who are increasingly younger and at greater risk. Negligent technology use is understood as use linked to the management of social media accounts and mobile apps that, while not intentionally harmful, may nevertheless place the user and/or others at risk. The study of negligent digital technology use during adolescence is vital to preventing risk behaviours through education. These types of behaviours range from anxiety to cyberbullying, device addiction, problems with self-perceptions of one’s own body and depression, among others. In this context, the aim of the present study is to analyse negligent digital technology use among adolescents on social media, and to explore the perceptions of this population group regarding the seriousness of these actions and the possible relationship between the two variables. Participants were 2529 students aged between 10 and 17 years from seven regions in southern Europe spread across three countries (Spain, Italy and Greece). The instrument used to collect the data was an ad hoc questionnaire designed to measure, among other things, actions indicating negligent use, excessive use of social medial and perceptions of the seriousness of such social media behaviour. The results reveal that the most negligent actions arried out by minors are: arranging to meet people they met on a social media site; displaying personal information in their account; and giving their passwords to people other than their parents and/or teachers. The results also indicate that adolescents engage in those negligent actions that they perceive to be less serious more assiduously, and carry out those they perceive to be more serious more sporadically. One of the principal findings was the increase in negligent use among older adolescents, which suggests that education in this field needs to begin much earlier, ideally before the age of 12 years.