Balancing opportunities and risks in teenagers’ use of the internet: the role of online skills and internet self-efficacy

By Sonia Livingstone, Ellen J. Helsper. New Media & Society, 2010

624 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Many hopes exist regarding the opportunities that the internet can offer to young people as well as fears about the risks it may bring. Informed by research on media literacy, this article examines the role of selected measures of internet literacy in relation to teenagers’ online experiences. Data from a national survey of teenagers in the UK (N = 789) are analyzed to examine: first, the demographic factors that influence skills in using the internet; and, second (the main focus of the study), to ask whether these skills make a difference to online opportunities and online risks. Consistent with research on the digital divide, path analysis showed the direct influence of age and socioeconomic status on young people’s access, the direct influence of age and access on their use of online opportunities, and the direct influence of gender on online risks. The importance of online skills was evident insofar as online access, use and skills were found to mediate relations between demographic variables and young people’s experience of online opportunities and risks. Further, an unexpected positive relationship between online opportunities and risks was found, with implications for policy interventions aimed at reducing the risks of internet use.

Subfields: Communication, Gender Studies, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/23ff241f68d0922310c79e11d2603ab94ad8a9e4

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Communication

In Gender Studies

In Sociology and Political Science

Citations in the corpus

The relationship between online activities, netiquette and cyberbullying (2014, background): “As the time spent online increases, so do the risks and opportunities adolescents encounter (see Livingstone & Helsper, 2010).”
What Makes a Bully a Cyberbully? Unravelling the Characteristics of Cyberbullies across Twenty-Five European Countries (2013, methodology): “Considering that the EU Kids Online II survey exclusively sampled children who use the internet, the findings are limited to those face-to-face bullies who already use the internet.”
Succinct Survey Measures of Web-Use Skills (2012, background): “…of its uses including people’s abilities to use the medium effectively and efficiently, that is, their web-use skills (e.g., DiMaggio, Hargittai, Celeste, & Shafer, 2004; Gui & Argentin, 2011; Hargittai, 2002, 2008, 2010; Livingstone & Helsper, 2010; van Deursen & van Dijk, 2009; van Dijk, 2005).”
Smartphones and Health Promotion: A Review of the Evidence (2013, background): “The digital divide, known phenomenon associated with e-health becomes a priority feature on three fronts: age, socioeconomic status and geographic area [48 – 51].”
How Media Literacy Supports Civic Engagement in a Digital Age (2015, background): “We agree with other researchers on this issue who note: “How the different forms of literacy interact and support each other is a key question for future research, given today’s complex and convergent media and information environment” (Livingstone & Helsper, 2010, p. 324).”
A Global Research Agenda for Children's Rights in the Digital Age (2014, background): “European research shows that online opportunities and risks are positively correlated (Livingstone & Helsper, 2010).”
From internet access to internet skills: digital inequality among older adults (2019, background): “A large body of literature across countries has shown that people from more advantaged societal positions are more likely to use the Internet for diverse purposes, especially the types of activities from which they may benefit [2, 50, 56, 64].”
Social media literacy & adolescent social online behavior in Germany (2020, background): “The hope is that knowing about media issues and media risks enables the user to avoid negative experiences online (Livingstone & Helsper, 2010, p. 313).”