The Millennials’ Trust on Their Privacy

TO: Mr. Geoffrey Steinberg

FROM:

DATE: 02/04/2016

SUBJECT: The Millennials’ Trust on Their Privacy

Today, in the global information age, almost everyone has connection with a smart phone, a computer, and the Internet. Everyone could use their phones or computers to contact with their families, friends, business, and any other relationships. So some concerns will follow: how well is our privacy protected? There are some studies show that the millennials have big differences with other generations on the trust about their privacy, which also has affected on the future of the NSA and government surveillance. The studies show that although the millennials are the least trusting generation, many of them trust that businesses can keep their personal information private, and there are some reasons for their trust.

First of all, according to Hunter Schwarz, a poll found that millennials are the least trusting generation. Only a very small minority of them believe that “most people can be trusted.” Also, a 2013 Pew poll found that 18-to-29-year-olds think instead of investigating possible terrorist threats, the federal government should not intrude on the personal privacy, and the NSA should not track people’s phone records either. But the amount of concerning the privacy of e-mail and online activity is a little lower than other generations, although there are still many of them have this concern.

On the other hand, Gallup found that many millennials trust that businesses can keep their personal information private to varying degrees. While many people of the other generations hold the view that businesses cannot protect their privacy well, 44 percent of millennials trust the businesses’ protection. And they seem to have only little concern about the online privacy.

In addition, as Gallup suggested, there are some reasons for why the millennials have such different trust. One is that the millennials always have connection with the Internet, so they have a lower expectation of security. The second is that because they are grown with smartphones, computers, and the Internet, they always trust the online protection. The third is that they are still young, naive, and optimism. All of these reasons make the millennials trust online protection more than other people and the government.