Affective, behavioral, and cognitive aspects of teen perspectives on personal data in social media: A model of youth data literacy

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018. In this study, we explored the interplay between teens’ Affective states (A), Behavioral states (B), and Cognitive states (C) in relation to the personal data they generate in social media, applying the “ABC model” from the social psychology domain. The data was collected from semi-structured interviews with 22 US teens in three library branches of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, USA. Results from content analysis suggest that: (1) Young people are positive about their data skills, while feeling negative or insecure about data privacy issues; (2) young people with negative affective states related to data privacy are more likely to make an effort to secure their social media accounts and profiles. Given the results, we suggest librarians, educators and software developers apply a range of strategies in reaction to teens’ different ABC states to the design of data literacy programs, services, and software applications.