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Gen Z falls for online scams more than their boomer grandparents do. The generation that grew up with the internet isn’t invulnerable to becoming the victim of online hackers and scammers. (www.vox.com)

submitted 10 months ago by L4s to c/technology

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[–] rwhitisissle 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Vox is being charitable to the Zoomers, though, observing that "Gen Z simply uses technology more than any other generation and is therefore more likely to be scammed via that technology." The original study is also in a peer reviewed journal. It's not making judgment calls about Zoomers. It's aggregating statistical data. You can read the article here: https://vc.bridgew.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1052&context=ijcic

From the discussion of findings at the end of the article, the researchers observed that

"It is reasonable to assume that the safer practices the older group self-reported is accompanied by greater knowledge of information security simply because of the additional years of being engaged in a digital-technology world. Specifically, it was hypothesized that Generation Y would rank higher than Generation Z adults on the OSBBQ Cybersecurity Awareness subscale, and significant differences were observed for half of the items included in the analysis."

And also that

"From a developmental perspective, it is possible that the normal adaptations that occur throughout one’s life impacted how individuals in this study perceived the literal meaning of the items. This could be due to cultural differences inherent to their generational cohort and the individual experiences that occur over time with age. For example, people tend to lose their sense of invulnerability as hey age (Denscombe & Drucquer, 1999) and generation Y adults grew up in a world where adapting to privacy and cybersecurity threats were first becoming more commonplace. These individuals are now at an age where the realities of (online) risk have become part of their conscious awareness as it relates to their lack of invulnerability."

Like, this formal study is incredibly generous in its discussion of why Gen. Z might be shown to be more statistically likely to fall for online scams than other cohorts. It also goes into great detail to explain its own limitations as a study.

[–] Chriswild 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

That study seems to be a survey of college students knowledge of cyber security not anything to do with what you were claiming before as there are no boomers in question.

[–] rwhitisissle 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yes, they acknowledge that as well when they discuss the sample population. Baby Boomers are literally not a part of it. The title of the Vox article is just drawn from a Deloitte industry survey. Which has no real context or judgment around it - it's purely a reporting of aggregate statistics. The Vox article just attempts to explain why Zoomers, a generational cohort that grew up with the internet, might be more statistically prevalent for succumbing to those scams compared to Baby Boomers, who were fully adult when the internet became widespread. The superficial presumption is that you would expect the opposite - the older generations have little to no familiarity with modern technology and are more easily victimized by it. That presumption is all the Vox article is discussing, really, and why it's probably not correct.

[–] Chriswild 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

So you agree the article is sensationalist? Why link me a study that is irrelevant for no reason?

[–] rwhitisissle 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

So you agree the article is sensationalist?

The article is not sensationalist. Please quote me a part of the article that you feel is and I can address the statements that make you feel that way.

Why link me a study that is irrelevant for no reason?

Because that study is referenced as one of the primary sources the article uses to provide evidence for the phenomenon it discusses. The link to that research paper is literally in the article. It's critical to the article.

[–] Chriswild 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

You just broke it down on how it sensationalized some completely bs data because boomers aren't online as much as zoomers. You've gotta be trolling with this

[–] rwhitisissle 0 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

You can say the title is clickbait, but that doesn't make it sensationalist. I feel like either you and I have totally different definitions of sensationalist, or you think the article is doing something it's not. The article does the following

Introduce a surprising fact: Zoomers fall for online scams more than Boomers do. This is surprising because a) Zoomers are online so much and would be expected to be innately familiar with such things and b) online scammers famously target the elderly, so much so that Boomers are almost stereotyped as being the victims of internet scams.
Add supporting details and discuss the source of the facts being discussed - specifically it introduces the Deloitte study, a 2023 report by Social Catfish, and the academic article I linked in my previous comment. These all help provide the concrete, factual basis for the article.
Highlights important findings from these sources that explains this phenomenon, including the centrality of mobile devices to the lives of Zoomers, how many popular apps have no real safeguards against predatory users or advertisers, and cultural or societal trends that might influence how Zoomers perceive their interactions with others on the internet.
Discusses how Zoomers can better protect themselves online and how, one can infer from the article, an adult or guardian could help Zoomers stay safe on the internet - such as by enabling safer settings or utilizing alternative browsers and ad blockers (things Zoomers might not innately think to do or know about), while also addressing some of the failures of large corporations and app developers to safeguard their users.

I'd like to know what part of that is sensationalist to you, because in my mind that is a remarkably by the numbers tech article.

Also, the data itself is not "BS" - it's something that is accurate, but has to be understood within a specific context. That's literally what the article is doing - contextualizing the information. You are saying it's sensationalizing the data. It's not. If anything it's doing the opposite. It's making the data more mundane by providing logical explanations for it.

[–] Chriswild 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Sensationalism- the use of exciting or shocking stories or language at the expense of accuracy.

You clearly grasp it is surprising or shocking and you clearly grasp that a higher percentage of Z are online in their generation than the percentage of boomers online.

You've got to be trolling at this point.

[–] rwhitisissle 1 points 10 months ago

the use of exciting or shocking stories or language at the expense of accuracy.

What part of this article is inaccurate?