EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Several months ago, Lee Rainie and Janna Anderson wrote about trust and security on pewinternet.org. Today, Monica Anderson from the Pew Research Center spotlights eight key tech-related trends that dominated 2017–each of which has the potential to contribute to erosion of trust.
Online Harassment.
- 41 percent of Americans have experienced some form of online harassment; that number rose to 67 percent among those ages 18 to 29.
- 79 percent believe online platforms have a responsibility to intervene when such behavior occurs on their sites.
2016 Campaign Hacking.
- Approximately seven-in-ten Americans believed that Russia was likely involved in hacking the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign
Fake News.
- 64 percent of U.S. adults believe made-up news had created confusion about basic facts of current issues and events.
- Almost a quarter of Americans (23 percent) said they have shared a made-up news story online – either knowingly or unknowingly.
Discrimination in the Tech Industry.
- 44 percent of women believe gender discrimination is a major problem in the tech industry compared with 29 percent of men.
- 64 percent of black people believe racial discrimination is an issue in the tech industry compared with 50 percent of Hispanics and 21 percent of whites.
Driverless Cars.
- 56 percent of Americans indicated they would not want to ride in a driverless vehicle due to safety concerns.
The Future of Work.
- Most Americans believe automation will take over some job roles, such as fast food worker, insurance claims processor, and software engineer.
- 6 percent of workers said they have already personally lost their job or had wages or hours cut due to work being reassigned to machines, robots, or computer programs.
Net Neutrality.
- Between April 27 and Aug. 30, 2017–when the FCC accepted comments on net neutrality–172,246 posts were submitted per day on average.
- July 12, dubbed Net Neutrality Day of Action, saw the highest activity with 1.4 million submissions.
How People Watch TV.
- 61 percent of Americans ages 18 to 29 use online streaming as the primary way to watch television.
- Older age groups tend to use cable or satellite as their primary way of watching TV.
Get the full story at Pew Research.
