Gen Y Values Privacy

Younger Internet users are actually more careful about protecting their online privacy than their older counterparts, according to a new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

The study found that members of Generation Y (ages 18 to 29) are more likely to limit the amount of personal information about them online. For example, 44 percent of young adult Internet users said they limited online personal information, compared with 33 percent of Internet users between ages 30 to 49, 25 percent of those aged 50 to 64 and 20 percent of those over age 65. In addition, 71 percent of young social networking users have changed the privacy settings on their profile to limit what they share with others online, compared to 55 percent of social networkers aged 50 to 64, the survey found.

Young adults also are generally less trusting of the websites that host their content, the study found. When asked how much of the time they think they can trust social networking sites like FaceBook, MySpace and LinkedIn, 28 percent of social networking users between 18 to 29 years old said "never," while only 19 percent of social networking users aged 30 to 49 and 14 percent of those aged 50 to 64 said they never trust the sites.

"Contrary to the popular perception that younger users embrace a laissez-faire attitude about their online reputations, young adults are often more vigilant than older adults when it comes to managing their online identities," said Mary Madden, a senior research specialist at Pew and lead author of the report, in a statement.