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Cyber bullying, digital identity, impact of digital footprints, and use of inappropriate social media are topics that are gaining attention in K-12 schools. As more schools and school districts are implementing 1-1 and “bring your own technology” initiatives, attention to these topics is becoming increasingly important. A total of 593 middle school students were surveyed about digital footprints and concerns about social media. The results show that 17% started using social media at age nine or younger, 40% accepted friend requests from people they do not know, and 40% reported that their parents did not monitor their social media use, which calls for the needs of cyber-security education. These middle school students reported using social media most often to connect with their friends, share pictures, and find out what others are doing. They indicated that Instagram (27%), SnapChat (25%) and YouTube (25%) were their most used social media sites. These students have concerns about social media due to inappropriate postings, getting hacked, getting their feelings hurt, lack of privacy, inappropriate pictures, bullying, negativity, and stalkers. This study informs teachers, administrators, technology facilitators and parents on social media use by students.
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This content will become publicly available on July 21, 2026
Data Wiping Behaviors for End-of-First-Use Electronics: Insights from a survey of U.S. consumers
When a consumer is finished using an electronic device (End-of- First-Use), they might recycle, resell, donate/give away, trade-in or throw it in the trash. There are security threats if a hostile party obtains the device and extracts data. Data wiping at End- of-First-Use is thus an important security behavior, one that has received scant analytical attention. To explore consumer behavior and reasoning behind data wiping practices, we undertake a survey of the U.S. population. One key result is that 31% of the population did not wipe data when dispositioning a device. When asked why not, 44% replied that they did not find data wiping important or that it did not occur to them. 33% replied the device was broken and data could not be wiped, 12% reported difficulty in wiping and 11% could not find a way to wipe. The 44% who thought data wiping was not important showed lower awareness of the security threat, 23% had heard that data can be recovered from discarded devices, versus 44% for the general population. The most prevalent device types for which data wiping was reported as unimportant are smart TVs, kitchen appliances, streaming, and gaming devices, suggesting that consumers may not be aware that private information is being stored on these devices. To inform future interventions that aim to raise awareness, we queried respondents where they obtained security knowledge. 47% replied that they learned about security threats from a single venue; social media was this single venue 43% of the time. This suggests that social media is a key channel for security education
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- Award ID(s):
- 2037535
- PAR ID:
- 10618749
- Publisher / Repository:
- ACM SIGCAS/SIGCHI Conference on Computing and Sustainable Societies (COMPASS ’25)
- Date Published:
- ISBN:
- 9798400714849
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 733 to 738
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- e-waste, consumer electronics, data, privacy
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Toronto ON Canada
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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