Background: Internet safety programs urge youth to avoid sharing personal information and talking with "strangers" online. Objective: To examine whether sharing personal information and talking with strangers online or other behaviors are associated with the greatest odds for online interpersonal victimization. Design: The Second Youth Internet Safety Survey was a cross-sectional random digit-dial telephone survey. Setting: United States. Participants: A total of 1500 youth aged 10 to 17 years who had used the Internet at least once a month for the previous 6 months. Main Exposure: Online behavior, including disclosure of personal information, aggressive behavior, talking with people met online, sexual behavior, and downloading images using file-sharing programs. Outcome Measure: Online interpersonal victimization (ie, unwanted sexual solicitation or harassment). Results: Aggressive behavior in the form of making rude or nasty comments (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 2.3; P<.001) or frequently embarrassing others (AOR, 4.6; P=.003), meeting people in multiple ways (AOR, 3.4; P<.001), and talking about sex online with unknown people (AOR, 2.0; P=.02) were significantly related to online interpersonal victimization after adjusting for the total number of different types of online behaviors youth engaged in. Engaging in 4 types of online behaviors seemed to represent a tipping point of increased risk for online interpersonal victimization (OR, 11.3; P<001). Conclusions: Talking with people known only online ("strangers") under some conditions is related to online interpersonal victimization, but sharing personal information is not. Engaging in a pattern of different kinds of online risky behaviors is more influential in explaining victimization than many specific behaviors alone. Pediatricians should help parents assess their child's online behaviors globally in addition to focusing on specific types of behaviors.

Internet prevention messages : Targeting the right online behaviors. Commentary

Changing Rhythms of American Family Life

As virtual agents become prevalent in many domains, virtual influencers have gone live on social media platforms, integrating human networks and interacting with users. Building on research on human-computer interactions, the Uncanny Valley hypothesis, and Computers Are Social Actors paradigm, this paper aims to investigate (1) virtual agents’ similarity to humans in terms of behaviour in human networks and (2) reactions to human versus virtual agents in human networks where this interaction is publicly visible. We analyse the posting behaviour of and reactions to one human, one human-like virtual, and one anime-like virtual influencer active on a popular social media platform via text and emoji postings over an 11-month period. We find that, despite the general positive atmosphere of the platform, the human-like virtual influencer receives significantly lower positive reactions, providing evidence for the Uncanny Valley. Additional measures of negative reactions show a similar pattern. We discuss these results within the context of authenticity and social identity on social media, providing recommendations for the implementation of virtual influencers in human social networks.

Almost human? A comparative case study on the social media presence of virtual influencers

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Fan Activities as Tools to Improve Learning Motivation

False idols: Unpacking the opportunities and challenges of falsity in the context of virtual influencers

Connecting the dots between fantasy and reality: The social psychology of our engagement with fictional narrative and its functional value

Today's experts encourage serious conversations between parents and children about the risks of online activities, including sexual predators, identity theft, and bullying. This study gathers qualitative data regarding effective communication strategies parents have adopted to alert and educate their adolescent children about personal safety risks online. To what extent do parents and children agree about house rules regarding Internet use? Are there discrepancies in these two parties' views regarding what are unsafe and acceptable online habits? This study tests the tenets of social learning theory to discern the impact of parental modeling behaviors such as effective rule making and punishments. It also examined the extent to which parent and child views are congruent and are in agreement over Internet use rules and practices at home. To gather data, ten mother-adolescent child dyads were interviewed face-to-face.
The participants report a number of Internet safety practices at home. These include large doses of anecdotes and lessons from parents, the integration of lesson learned from public school programs into house rules, and parental access to children's online accounts. Parents also report using filtering and blocking software, setting children's online accounts for maximum privacy, acting as "friends" on social networking sites, and children's participation in extra-curricular activities. Suggestions to improve parental monitoring practices are offered.

https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2758&context=etd

Kristin Hopper-Losenicky

Papers

Connecting the dots between fantasy and reality: The social psychology of our engagement with fictional narrative and its functional value

Risk communication in the Internet Age: Parental challenges in monitoring the Internet use of adolescents

Mad Men Unzipped

Mad Men Unzipped: Fans on Sex, Love, and the Sixties on TV