Can I live? College student perceptions of risks, security, and privacy in online spaces

Abstract

This study explores U.S. college students’ perceptions of risk, security, and privacy in online spaces, and the strategies used by students to manage online risks. Twenty-one students participated in in-depth interviews and shared their experiences with online spaces and their perceptions of cyber threats. Our findings indicate that student cybersecurity concerns are shaped mainly by routinization and ritualization of risk, optimistic bias, and self-efficacy. Strategies commonly employed to overcome risks include accessing sources that are perceived as credible and trustworthy, restricting information sharing, and exercising learned helplessness—or, what we term here as the “can-I-live syndrome.”