title: Adolescents and Social Media: Privacy, Brain Development, and the Law.
abstract: Adolescents under the age of 18 are not recognized in the law as adults, nor do they have the fully developed capacity of adults. Yet teens regularly enter into contractual arrangements with operators of websites to send and post information about themselves. Their level of development limits their capacity to understand the implications of online communications, yet the risks are real to adolescents' privacy and reputations. This article explores an apparent contradiction in the law: that in areas other than online communications, U.S. legal systems seek to protect minors from the limitations of youth. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act provides some protection to the privacy of young people, but applies only to children under age 13, leaving minors of ages 13 to 17 with little legal protection in their online activities. In this article, we discuss several strategies to mitigate the risks of adolescent online activity.
authors.affiliation: Dr. Costello is Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Dr. McNiel is Professor of Clinical Psychology, and Dr. Binder is Professor of Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA. caitlin.costello@ucsf.edu.
authors.forename: Caitlin R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Costello
authors.affiliation: Dr. Costello is Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Dr. McNiel is Professor of Clinical Psychology, and Dr. Binder is Professor of Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.
authors.forename: Dale E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: McNiel
authors.affiliation: Dr. Costello is Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Dr. McNiel is Professor of Clinical Psychology, and Dr. Binder is Professor of Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.
authors.forename: Renée L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Binder
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D018907:Privacy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D061108:Social Media / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014481:United States