Abstract
BackgroundThe importance of health privacy protections in the era of the “Facebook Generation” has been called into question. The ease with which younger people share personal information about themselves has led to the assumption that they are less concerned than older generations about the privacy of their information, including health information. We explored whether survey respondents’ views toward health privacy suggest that efforts to strengthen privacy protections as health information is moved online are unnecessary.MethodsUsing Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk), which is well-known for recruitment for survey research, we distributed a 45-item survey to individuals in the U.S. to assess their perspectives toward privacy and security of online and health information, social media behaviors, use of health and fitness devices, and demographic information.Results1310 participants (mean age: 36 years, 50% female, 78% non-Hispanic white, 54% college graduates or higher) were categorized by generations: Millennials, Generation X, and Baby Boomers. In multivariate regression models, we found that generational cohort was an independent predictor of level of concern about privacy and security of both online and health information. Younger generations were significantly less likely to be concerned than older generations (all P < 0.05). Time spent online and social media use were not predictors of level of concern about privacy or security of online or health information (all P > 0.05).LimitationsThis study is limited by the non-representativeness of our sample.ConclusionsThough Millennials reported lower levels of concern about privacy and security, this was not related to internet or social media behaviors, and majorities within all generations reported concern about both the privacy and security of their health information. Thus, there is no intergenerational imperative to relax privacy and security standards, and it would be advisable to take privacy and security of health information more seriously.
Highlights
There is a commonly held assumption that members of younger generations, most notably the Millennial generation, are less concerned about the privacy and security of their information than members of older generations due to the seeming ease with which they share personal and sensitive information about themselves online via social networking and other online behaviors [1]
Using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk), which is well-known for recruitment for survey research, we distributed a 45-item survey to individuals in the U.S to assess their perspectives toward privacy and security of online and health information, social media behaviors, use of health and fitness devices, and demographic information
Though Millennials reported lower levels of concern about privacy and security, this was not related to internet or social media behaviors, and majorities within all generations reported concern about both the privacy and security of their health information
Summary
There is a commonly held assumption that members of younger generations, most notably the Millennial generation, are less concerned about the privacy and security of their information than members of older generations due to the seeming ease with which they share personal and sensitive information about themselves online via social networking and other online behaviors [1]. Studies exploring public attitudes toward HIEs have shown that younger people are both less concerned about the privacy and security of their health information [2] and more likely to believe that EHRs would improve the privacy of their health information [3]. This prompts the question of the importance of strong health privacy protections in the era of the “Facebook Generation” [4]. We explored whether survey respondents’ views toward health privacy suggest that efforts to strengthen privacy protections as health information is moved online are unnecessary
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