1. Youth’s experiences with online strangers: Developmental perspective
Povedať čo myslíme termínom online stranger
Martina Černíková
Lenka Dědková
David Šmahel

2. friendships as well as first romantic relationships
What we already know …
…interacting with strangers, widening one‘s social circle is developmentally appropriate activity in adolescence
friendships as well as first romantic relationships
peers provide social support, space for self-disclosure, self-presentation, exploration of one‘s identity, sexuality, intimity
both online and offline
Černíková, Dědková, Šmahel irtis.fss.muni.cz

3. And we know that…
…interaction with online strangers is one the major concerns parents have when thinking about their children online activities
media panic over online pedophiles
…negative meetings are relatively rare:
EUKO II: 11% of those who went to such meeting were bothered by what happened
Research (mainly quantitative) focused on risky experiences and concerns
Neglecting neutral and positive experiences
Černíková, Dědková, Šmahel irtis.fss.muni.cz

4. The aim of the present study
to explore the whole range of children‘s and adolescents‘ experiences with online strangers from developmental perspective
follow-up of the study on the types of interactions that youth experience with online strangers
Cernikova, Dedkova, Smahel (under review). Youth interaction with online strangers: Experiences and reactions to unknown people on the internet. Information, Communication and Society
Černíková, Dědková, Šmahel irtis.fss.muni.cz

5. Projekt EU Kids Online III (EUKO III)
Qualitative investigation in nine European countries: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Greece, Malta, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and the United Kingdom + Australia
At least 6 focus groups and 12 interviews in each country, aged 9 – 16 years, Total: focus groups (FG), 130 interviews (INT)
Participants: 250 FG, 130 INT
Females half, males half
Coding: 1. Level – descriptive
2. Level – thematic analyses of first level codes + translations
Černíková, Dědková, Šmahel irtis.fss.muni.cz

6. Codes conected to meeting stranger topic
Analyses
Thematic analyses
Codes conected to meeting stranger topic
Actual experiences & reactions (finished analyses)
Developmental perspective (preliminary results)
children (9-10 years old)
early adolescents (11-13 years old)
middle adolescents (14-16 years old)
Černíková, Dědková, Šmahel irtis.fss.muni.cz

7. Results
Černíková, Dědková, Šmahel irtis.fss.muni.cz

8. Levels of interaction
Černíková, Dědková, Šmahel irtis.fss.muni.cz

9. 1. Non-verbal interaction
youths´contact with the unknown people without verbal communication among them
unknown people still affect youth´s online activities
 Hacked account/profile
Hijacked account/profile
Tell somebody
Delete unwanted content
 Playing online games
Reading content on SNS
Not talk to people “just play”
Continue playing
situations without direct communication
„Boy: It is an online game, you play it against… Game decide if you are in yellow, blue of red team. I usually play in blue teem against red ones.
Researcher: And you play it with people you do not know or with friends?
Boy: I play it with people I do not know.“
Černíková, Dědková, Šmahel irtis.fss.muni.cz

10. 1. Non-verbal interaction - developmental perspective
Children
Reported mostly positive experiences – usually online playing
Early adolescents
Reported experiences of online paying and hacked/hijecked account/profiles
Middle adolescents
Spontaneously not talking so much about non-verbal interaction, more talked about other levels of interaction
Černíková, Dědková, Šmahel irtis.fss.muni.cz

11. 2. Initiation of contact Before actual communication starts
First contact
 Accept/send friend request/message
Evaluate some condition
Because of personal motivation
 Refuse friend request/message
Postpone reaction
Ignore friend request / message
Tell somebody
Report / Block person
Change private settings
Delete message / Close window with message
Putting her/himself offline
Unknown people try to contact youths or vice versa

12. 2. Initiation of contact – developmental perspective
Children
usually not adding unknown people as friends
frequently answer/send message of unknown people in games
talk to parents (mother) when something bothering happens
Early + middle adolescents
adding unknown people as friends under some conditions
using more strategies reflecting psychosocial development
desire to be popular, have a lot of friends on FB…
do no talk to parents – use different strategies to cope with the situation
Černíková, Dědková, Šmahel irtis.fss.muni.cz

13. 3. Communication
direct contact with somebody from online world whom they do not know personally
the length and frequency of the communication varied from a single episode to regular and prolonged communication
Černíková, Dědková, Šmahel irtis.fss.muni.cz

14. 3. Communication - experiences + reactions
 Pleasant communication
Exchanging pleasant content
Learning something
Talk about save topics
Talk to friends of friends
Use more communication channels
Hide identity – lie
Disclose identity
Not met face to face
Talk in groups
 Receiving unpleasant content
Insulting and being insulted
Sexual/bothersome content
End conversation
Ignore/block person
Insult person back
Remove person from friends
Leave game, page
Talk to somebody
Lie about personal things
Černíková, Dědková, Šmahel irtis.fss.muni.cz

15. 3. Communication – developmental perspective
Children
frequently talked to unknown people, usually in games and about games, but some children also talked about having online friends
talk to parents (mother) when something bothering happens
Early adolescents
reported mostly pleasant situations
talking about different topics
Middle adolescents
use more platforms to interact with one person (including phone)
talk to parents and friends when something bothering happens
Černíková, Dědková, Šmahel irtis.fss.muni.cz

16. 4. Face-to-face meeting
meeting unknown people from the internet face-to-face
 Friendly meeting
Tell parents/friends about meeting
Meet on safe place
Go with friend
Somebody from my social world knows the person
Check person´s identity before meeting
 Unattractive appearance and/or boredom during the meeting
Same as  +
Not meet person (offline) again
Meeting just online
Černíková, Dědková, Šmahel irtis.fss.muni.cz

17. 4. Face-to-face meeting – developmental perspective
Children
no reports about FTF meetings
some children have need to stress out that they did not met anybody from internet FTF
Early adolescents
some early adolescents met unknown people FTF
do not talk so much about coping strategies
Middle adolescents
most FTF meetings are in this age group
talk about coping strategies
met same and also opposite sex (dating)
Černíková, Dědková, Šmahel irtis.fss.muni.cz

18. Discussion/Conclusion
Variability of experiences
Meeting new people online seems similar to meeting new people offline
All age categories reported to be able to cope with negative experiences
active participants, not passive victims
Developmental differences are in line with developmental needs of youth
Children report more situations when they talked to parents about their struggles, early and middle adolescents include also fiends
Černíková, Dědková, Šmahel irtis.fss.muni.cz

19. Thank you for your attention

20. Contacts
Interdisciplinary Research Team on Internet and Society – IRTIS
irtis.fss.muni.cz
Institute for Research on Children, Youth and Families
Faculty of Social Studies
Masaryk University
Brno, Czech Republic
Martina Černíková
Lenka Dědková
David Šmahel
Černíková, Dědková, Šmahel irtis.fss.muni.cz

21. Literature
Liau, A. K., Khoo, A., & Hwaang, P. (2005). Factors influencing adolescents’ engagement in risky internet behavior. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 8, doi: /cpb
Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., Gorzig , A., & Olafsson, K. (2011). Risks and safety on the Internet: The perspective of European children. LSE, London, UK: EU Kids Online.
Wolak, J., Mitchell, K. J., & Finkelhor, D. (2002). Close online relationships in a national sample of adolescents. Adolescence, 37,
Černíková, Dědková, Šmahel irtis.fss.muni.cz