Publication details
Differences in representing the environment of the internet for adolescents
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2008 |
| Type | R&D Presentation |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Specific requirements unwind from different needs in different areas and development periods of the life of an adolescent. Our results indicate that especially the youngest adolescents consider themselves more happy in the environment of the internet than older adolescents, which can be also closely related with discovering new and safe means of self-presentation, new virtual identities. At the same time they also discover a lower possibility to verify information, which can lead to a belief that lies are much more common on the internet than thought by older adolescents. This is related to their higher distrust of information conveyed by this medium. With increasing age of respondents, we can see a reduction of gullibility, especially for girls. The Internet is seen as a place where adolescents can be more open than in real life and have less constraints is perceived rather ambivalently. On one side it is considered a pro to be able to say things which you would not dare say elsewhere, or lie, on the other side they clearly realize that others have the same possibilities, which can be considered negative. In this apparent discordance, we can see a certain measure of positive willingness = an effort to be better than the rest. This is also related to the perception of others = adolescents do not trust them and believe that most people on the internet lie. The factor of lying is most affected by the factor of age (this is also related to the most often visited environment for each age group of users). Younger and middle-aged girl adolescents are the least trusting of internet users. For adolescents, there exist no obligations here, however they claim that if they promise something, they mostly consider it necessary to fulfill it. |
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