Teenagers may get a bad rap for over-sharing on Facebook but a new Canadian study finds adults on the site are driven to disclose personal information by the very same factors.
Although adolescents do reveal more than older users, researchers say it's largely explained by increased time spent on the site — not because youth care any less about privacy. In fact, adults in the study were actually less conscious of the consequences of sharing on Facebook than young people, while the desire to belong drove all demographics to put more of their lives online.
"Our research shows that people simultaneously care about their privacy and share a lot on Facebook," says study co-author Amy Muise, a social psychology researcher at the University of Guelph. "And this isn't just a young person's phenomenon; it cuts across all ages."
Reporting in a forthcoming issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, researchers find teens and adults are more similar than not when it comes to disclosure on Facebook.
In both groups, increased time spent on the site increased the likelihood of sharing. And in both groups, less awareness of the consequences of disclosure — and greater need for popularity — predicted higher rates of sharing.
Muise says the results suggest it's the Facebook environment itself that compels people to spill, regardless of age or personality.
"The thing about Facebook is that popularity is linked to disclosure," says Muise. "In order to get more friends to connect with you, you have to share information: post pictures, tell people what you're up to, comment on other people's things."
The study draws from 285 non-student adults, aged 19 to 71, and 288 youth users, aged nine to 18 (those younger than 13 are violating the site's terms of use by having accounts; Consumer Reports recently found an estimated 7.5 million site-users are under 13).
The adolescents spent an average 55 minutes a day on Facebook, compared to 38 minutes for adults. Once the researchers controlled for this factor, it largely mediated higher sharing among the former group.
Most surprising to researchers, however, was that older users were less mindful of the potential consequences of online sharing.
Because adults reported higher use of their privacy settings, Muise says they may simply be more complacent, assuming that their posts have no way of leaking out.
A second possibility is that because adults' personalities and circumstances are more firmly established, they have less incentive to ponder the penalties of their information going public; a stay-at-home mom, for example, has less to lose over an embarrassing photo than a young person just entering the job market.
"The take-home message is that there needs to be more education about privacy on Facebook — and not just stories in the media about people losing their jobs or getting a divorce over something they put on the site," says Muise. "Because Facebook isn't going anywhere."
mharris@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/popcultini
© Copyright (c) Postmedia News
Entradas
