Full length article Teenagers' perception of risk behaviors regarding digital technologies Arkaitz Lareki a, * , Juan Ignacio Martínez de Morentin b , Jon Altuna c , Nere Amenabar a a Department of Didactic and School Organization, Faculty of Education, Philosophy and Anthropology, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Tolosa Avenue 70, 20018 San Sebastian, Spain b Department of Evolutionary Psychologyand Education, Faculty of Psychology, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Tolosa Avenue 70, 20018 San Sebastian, Spain c Department of History and Theory of Education, Faculty of Education, Philosophy and Anthropology, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Tolosa Avenue 70, 20018 San Sebastian, Spain article info Article history: Received 12 August 2016 Received in revised form 1 December 2016 Accepted 1 December 2016 Available online 2 December 2016 Keywords: Digital technologies Internet Risks Teenagers Gender studies abstract This article analyses young people's perception of risk behaviors in relation to the use of technology. To do this a study was conducted, in which 1486 young people aged from 9 to 16 took part. After grouping risk behaviors into five areas, the results indicate that young people have a greater perception of the risk related to the publication of data and photographs. It should be stressed that significant differences were found with respect to age and sex. Cluster analysis shows the existence of a group with a low perception of risk, made up largely of older boys. Finally, the data suggests the need to encourage ethical and technical training for young people regarding the use of technology, specially focused on the afore- mentioned group. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is a reality increasingly more widespread in the different parts of the world. In fact, in 2015 it was estimated that the number of mobile phone lines was more than 7,000 million and that the number of Internet users had for the first time passed the 3000 million barrier to stand at 3174 million (ITU, 2015). On the other hand, in 2014 it was estimated that Internet Protocol (IP) traffic in 2015 would be 72.42 exabytes a month, representing a rise of 21% in comparison to the previous year (Cisco, 2014). While it is true that the big economies lead the way in its use, developing countries are gradually joining the digital world. The access to and massive use of information and communica- tion technologies has driven society to generate new forms of relating with technology as the intermediary. The appearance of social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Googleþ among many others has generated new spaces for exchanging opinions and life experiences. In the last decade, the appearance of instant messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram and others designed for mobile devices have risen exponentially, intensifying technology use to the point that a US citizen now checks their mobile phones an average 46 times daily (Deloitte, 2015a). Furthermore, eighty-five percent of US consumers are currently on social media and 58 percent check their social net- works daily (Deloitte, 2015b). This penetration of technology into social life has brought with it countless advantages such as the possibility of accessing cultural contents, staying permanently informed, being able to easily con- tact people far from us, or benefitting from ubiquitous learning, among others. But with it, it has also brought new risks that represent new challenges for citizens, such as computer security and the management of private data, aspects we will look at in more detail a little later. 1.1. Technology and teenagers Ever since digital technologies made their appearance, figures have shown that it is the youngest among us who make the greatest use of technological media, leading Prenksy (2001) to establish the division between digital natives e people who were born and have * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: arkaitz.lareki@ehu.eus (A. Lareki), juanignacio.demorentin@ ehu.eus (J.I. Martínez de Morentin), jon.altuna@ehu.eus (J. Altuna), nere. amenabar@ehu.eus (N. Amenabar). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Computers in Human Behavior journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.12.004 0747-5632/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Computers in Human Behavior 68 (2017) 395e402