A survey on digital habits by security software company Trend Micro revealed that a large majority of the population here are pretty guarded when it comes to sharing personal information online.
Surveying close to 750 respondents in Singapore, 76 percent expressed concern about sharing private information on social networking sites, while 69 percent admit to deleting or hiding posts they shared previously — but honestly who hasn’t been horrified by the brainfarts we published in our young foolish days. Others are afraid of having information misused and the consequences that could affect their personal lives.
Unsurprisingly, the survey confirms that we belong in a generation of vain, self-conscious gits; 91 percent of the respondents use their personal computers and mobile devices to visit social media sites. It’s good to know that even though we love our social media, we know how to protect ourselves online with cautious tactics. 68 percent refuse to download mobile apps that require permission to access social media profiles. Parents here however should start learning the ways of the internet — 77 percent are not using parental control settings while 56 percent are clueless when it comes to potentially harmful sites.
Other statistics from the survey interestingly verify our secret stalking habits. A third of the respondents admit that they’ve searched for their friend’s social media profiles online despite not actively connecting with them in real life, and a quarter of them actually read up about friends online on a regular basis.
With such concerns about privacy, it is also not surprising that almost half of the respondents disapprove citizen journalism.
Photo: Public Domain Image, Trend Micro
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