Indian Teens Are Spending Upto 86% Of Their Time On Social Media, Observes McAfee Report

McAfee recently struck up on a goldmine of privy insight on the behavior of teenagers online. The McAfee survey which was conducted across major urban cities throughout India (Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune and Chennai, mainly) was an attempt on its part to gauge the amount of personal engagement by Teenagers online in India.

Apparently, the main pointers that can be extrapolated from this survey are that teens in India are spending 86% of their time on Facebook, followed by about 54% of their time engaging on Twitter banter. Apparently, 45% of the teens engage on social media using their mobile phones; another indicator of mobility and broadband penetration in urban India.

Interestingly, the survey “Secret Lives of Teens” also reports that only a paltry 16% of the parents are aware of the experiences and engagement of their children online. This is a serious figure given the fact that there is an increasing divide in the digital participation and literacy among the two age groups.

It is obvious that the teenagers haven’t yet grasped the far-flung effects info-com technology can have on their lives. The recent changes in policy initiated by Facebook adds more cause for concern, as it has brought upon such changes as ‘sharing personal info with affiliates’, ‘disabling strict settings on contact and personal info’ etc. In the light of this development, in spite of  responsible drives conducted by schools and parents across major urban areas, there is increasing probability that a teen can fall prey to the evils of hackers, lechers and other psychosomatic criminal entities online. Most of them pose as cool friends and seek entry into the lives and minds of these teens. We have witnessed in the past how teens have organized and conducted Rave Parties and peddled drugs through such social networks.

In the past we had also seen how Facebook was considering the prospect of divesting its services into a special section for under-aged fellows. The survey by McAfee also observed that on an average at the age 13 a new profile is created online. What is more appalling is that 89% of these teens are comfortable and consider it safe to share information online and on social media; in spite 71% of their parents thinking otherwise. It is important that the country’s administration and responsible actors from all major internet companies operating online, take action – preferably after studying the sociological aspects for this diaspora – as to how this issue can be tackled.

Image Courtesy | talkandroid  and geekologie

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