Commentary: Cause for alarm? Youth and internet risk research--a commentary on Livingstone and Smith (2014).

If you have spent any time with young people in the last 10 years, you know how enthralled they are by the electronic technology. But if you review the research on youth and technology, the themes are mostly about danger and distress. Is this because the technology is indeed a new ‘pied piper’ seducing innocents into dangers unaware? Or is this the sign of a generational-gap alarmism that has discounted what youth are really experiencing? This commentary argues that more explicit critical attention should be paid to a set of alarmist hypotheses about technology that have animated much of the current research slant on the topic. The Annual Research Review by Livingstone and Smith (2014) certainly does not embrace the pied piper view. It is filled with findings that dampen many of its more anxious notions. They point out that serious and repetitive online bullying is rare, occurring to only 5% of youth in most countries, less than traditional face-to-face bullying. They cite findings that a majority of youth are not viewing pornography online. Relatively small numbers are also sending out sexual images. While 2%–14% may receive sexual solicitations, only a tiny subgroup ends up being sexually victimized by someone who solicited them online. They conclude ‘abuse by perpetrators known to the child offline is far more common than grooming by strangers online.’ But at the same time, the Livingstone and Smith review does shine light on where much of the scholarly community has chosen to focus its energy, a focus that has grown and not abated even with the emergence of reassuring findings. So it may be useful to articulate and debate more directly some of contentions of the alarmist narrative that seem to animate much of the concern.