The Secret Online Life Of Teenagers [Infographic]

The online life can be a treacherous one if you don’t apply the proper amount of security. This has long been a debate that will most likely never be completely solved. Each day there are new ways you and your privacy can get into trouble. It’s always important to make sure your information is safe and that no one can get their hands on it. There are several examples of this going south and quickly ruining both the reputation and earnings for companies as well as individual people. Of course, it’s up to us to make sure we use all the protection that is available to us. But sometimes age can be a factor that makes this impossible. That is the case when we start talking about the secret online life of teenagers.

The crazy part about the secret online life of most teenagers is that 81% of them use social networking, and out of those, 69% openly reveal their location through various location-based applications and settings. Furthermore, 31% of all girls and 24% of all boys have admitted to talking to complete strangers online on occasions. If you bundle up all of these statistics, you quickly see the dangerous and hazardous result this secret online life may have.

All of these statistics and more are taken from a fresh infographic called Mum’s The Word: The Secret Life Of The Online Teenager presented by ZoneAlarm (design by Column Five Media). The infographic goes into detail about just how the secret online life of teenagers is getting more out of hand with every social networking service that gets popular. If you are a parent, you should be concerned when looking at these statistics. The chance that your teenager is practicing an unsafe and secret online life is quite large according to this infographic.

As a teenager though (knowing that many who read this are teenagers), you should know that what you do when you don’t apply the proper online security is put yourself in harms way. Even though you feel like you have everything under control, it can quickly change and then it is just a downhill journey that you are unable to stop. Don’t do it to yourself. Having a secret online life isn’t worth it.

When you are online, always make sure you check your privacy settings immediately. Don’t give out personal information that strangers can use against you or to harm you in any way. Make sure you always change your password every once in a while, and no matter what, don’t give your password out to strangers or friends. Take a look at these statistics, process them and make sure you remember them. If you are among the ones who practice a secret online life then you are among the teenagers who are in the danger zone. There are definitely better ways (and much safer ways as well) to browse and network on the Internet than to put your security settings on minimal. A dangerous online life will only give you more problems. Security settings are available for a reason. Don’t underestimate their worth.