gisw13_chapters

Due to the popularity and widespread useof social networking and gaming, many childrenand adolescents provide their personal informationwithout knowing that all the information theyshare is visible by anyone worldwide. According toMiriam Rojas, an expert on the treatment of digitalviolence disorders and a psychologist at theCREPUM Foundation: “There is a marked tendencyto make personal information public online amongteenagers, due to the logic behind consumptionand fashion. Teenagers imitate the images they seeover the internet, showing themselves as moviestars, rock stars, celebrities and top models, assumingtheir bodies and images are products forthe market, and disregarding the fact that they areengaging in potential risk behaviour.”Action stepsDigital risk behaviours include the series of actionsin which people overexpose their personal and privateinformation over the internet. This behaviour isbased on a false sense of trust or on a perceivedneed to access the various services available overthe internet (such as games, social networks, websitesand applications). In order to access theseservices, whether through computers, tablets, mobilephones, or most recently, digital TV, people feelobliged to give away their information.Bolivian families have a high acceptance andpositive perception of internet cafés and telecentresas leisure and recreation centres. This perceptionhas a serious effect on people’s online behaviour,whether at public internet access points, at home orat school, and the way they socialise. This effect ismainly due to overexposure to harmful content overthe web – and it is this exposure which needs to beurgently addressed. ■75 / Global Information Society Watch