Think Gen Zs don’t care about privacy because they share their life on social media?
Well, think again.
In fact, 77% of Gen Zs we surveyed for our What Gen Z Actually Do Online report said online privacy is ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ important to them.
Only 20% said online privacy is ‘somewhat’ important, while just 3% said it’s ‘not important’ or ‘not important at all’.
“Being a young person online in 2021 is an amazing experience, as we get to experience all the brand new technology and communicate with friends, watch videos, and play games,” a 15-year-old male from South Australia said.
“But also we should all always be careful about our privacy, and protect ourselves from both cyberbullying and hackers, to make sure we can make the most of our online experience.”
But how does that translate to how Gen Zs manage their privacy online?
For most Gen Zs, that means setting their social media accounts to private so that only friends and family can access their online lives.
Our survey found 70% percent of Gen Zs Instagram users keep their Instagram profiles on private, while 57% of Gen Z TikTok users have their profiles set to private.
But for some, privacy settings on social media aren’t cutting it.
“I don’t like the current privacy settings on social media as I know (at least I think or I feel like I am) being listened to, watched by Facebook and Google – which is how they know what I have been watching, searching and talking about to show me certain ads,” an 18-year-old male from South Australia said.
Many Gen Zs are also dissatisfied with how secretive social media apps can be when gathering their data.
“Very few people read the terms and conditions of a service before they use it because it’s seen as tedious,” a 19-year-old female from Victoria said.
“But within them is crucial information about your privacy and user guidelines. Often apps have features that must be manually disabled in order for the user to maintain their privacy; it would be far preferable if maintaining privacy was the default.”
That sounds like an idea most people could get behind.
