11114

11114

General Session - Conference Presentation Only (no formal paper)

Sexting, Cyberbullying, Identity Theft, Digital Copyright and Misinformation: A snapshot of a 2010 Hawaii survey
Fawn Liebengood, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, justpeachy242@yahoo.com Peter Ayala, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, ayalap@hawaii.edu Mericia Palma Elmore, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, mericia@hawaii.edu Lauren Mark, Curriculum Research & Development Group, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA, lmark@hawaii.edu Thanh Truc Nguyen, Curriculum Research & Development Group, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA, nguyen@hawaii.edu

Sexting, cyberbullying, identity theft, and plagiarism are issues present in society and schools today as technology evolves. The “sexting” seen in technological avenues for adolescent flirting and sexual behavior are painted as an epidemic among adolescents, yet is this picture accurate or exaggerated? Our research indicates that less than 10% of students “sext”. Current legislation is punitive and labels our adolescents as lifelong sexual predators. We suggest future research to better identify adolescents who may “sext” and the reasons, as well as create education programs about Internet permanency and sexting legislation. Cyberbullying is repeatedly inflicting harm through modern digital communication devices. Our results indicate 9.8% of students report being cyberbullied. Current digital technologies may make communication faster and more efficient, but it is crucial that proper ethical uses of those technologies reduce cyberbullying. The Federal Trade Commission defines Identity Theft (IdT) as the appropriation of someone else’s personal or financial identity to commit fraud or theft. Our results indicate that parents and students ranked IdT as their 3rd highest concern, while faculty ranked IdT 4th. Current research suggests parental education and awareness are the best tools to fight IdT. Lastly, digital copyright and ascertaining misinformation can be difficult in today’s society where access requires nothing more that a few clicks of a mouse. Our results indicate 75% of students find computers valuable to education, but may not have parental computer rules. And unfortunately, over 40% of students believe all information from the Internet is generally true.

All Audiences sexting, cyberbullying, identify theft, digital copyright, misinformation Being submitted as a panel general session.