A Pew Research Centre survey released on Thursday found 58% of US teens surveyed have downloaded phone or tablet apps, but half of teen apps users have avoided using some due to privacy concerns.
The survey conducted with the Harvard University's Berkman Centre for Internet and Society found 26% of teenage apps users have uninstalled an application because they found out it was collecting personal information they did not want to share.
Nearly half of the apps users have turned off location tracking features on their cell phone or in an app because they were worried about the privacy of their information, Pew found.
"Younger teen apps users ages 12-13 are more likely than older teen apps users 14-17 to say that they have avoided apps over concerns about personal information sharing," the researchers wrote.
"Boys and girls are equally likely to avoid certain apps for these reasons. There are no clear patterns of variation according to the parent's income, education level or race and ethnicity."
However, the survey found girls are considerably more likely than boys - 59 to 37% - to say they have disabled location tracking features.
According to the researchers, teens may be concerned not only about advertisers and companies tracking them, but their own parents as well.
A 2009 Pew survey indicated half of parents of teen cell phone owners said they used the phone to monitor their child's location in some way.
Among American teens, 78% have a cell phone and 23% of teens have a tablet computer; 82% own at least one of these mobile devices.
The report was based on a survey of 668 respondents between the ages of 12 and 17 from July 26 to September 30, 2012.
Source: AFP, via I-Net Bridge
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