Eighty Percent Twits

A recent survey has found that eighty percent of teenagers don’t think before they post to social media.

In the Ask.fm survey, completed by American, British, African and Irish teens, eighty percent of them said they would post without thinking about the consequences, and additionally, over a third claimed to be disappointed if they don’t get a reply quickly.

The information found could actually become quite an indicator when it comes to cyberbullying as many of the teens who actively cyberbully – or ‘troll’ – aren’t thinking about what they’re doing online. However, the survey also found that 74% would ‘step in’ if they saw someone being bullied. This indicates that there are complete polar opposites among teens, as majority of them are willing to do their bit in the fight against cyberbullying, while some teens are so complacent that they don’t even think what they say to others – or even think in general.

Catherine Teitelbaum, chief trust and safety officer at Ask.fm said: “Teens have grown up online; it is core to how they communicate with the outside world on a daily basis, so it’s understandable most feel they have nothing to hide or regret when it comes to their digital behaviour. To them, it’s simply an extension of their everyday, real world lives.”

If you’re one of the teens in the twenty percent (AKA the safe zone), congratulations. If you’re one of the eighty percent, we recommend you think before you tweet so you don’t end up looking like a twit.