The privacy paradox in using Facebook among Arab teens: between declarations and behaviour

The present study examines the issue of privacy among teens using the social network, Facebook. It examines, on the one hand, how Arab teens view the issue of privacy, and on the other hand, how participants actually behave. The study is based on a questionnaire delivered to 500 Arab teens from Israel. The study’s results show that certain private information is more readily disclosed by Arab teens than one’s family. Most participants reported that they are aware of the issue of privacy yet do not make changes to the site’s default privacy settings. This behaviour supports the existence of some degree of the privacy paradox among participants, which is likely to be expressed in various online interactions. The results of the study can help educators and parents gain a better understanding of teens’ behaviour in the digital arena, perhaps contributing to the creation of better and more suitable educational approaches.

Results from the present study (Tibi, Ganayem & Asad, 2018) show that most participants disclose real, personal details on their profile, such as date of birth, name, school name, sex and e-mail address. At the same time, they are less likely to publicise details related to names of family members, home address, and they upload personal and family photos less often; this seems to come from the relatively conservative nature of Arab society when compared with other Western societies. This study also demonstrates that most participants, in terms of their statements, are aware of the issue of privacy on Facebook and that protecting privacy is important to them. On the other hand, in terms of actual use and behaviour, they do not protect their own privacy as they claim – most not changing the default privacy settings. One can conclude from here that, to a certain degree, a privacy paradox exists in this context.