Young children’s moral judgments of lying in the digital era: Evaluating privacy lies in online and offline interactions

Abstract

With growing internet exposure among children, online privacy risks have become a major concern. Previous studies have suggested that children show a limited awareness of privacy risks in online settings (e.g., interactions on social media platforms) as compared to offline settings (e.g., face-to-face interactions). While lying is typically viewed negatively, the use of privacy lies can safeguard personal information and ensure personal safety. The current study aimed to examine children’s moral judgment of privacy lies in online and offline settings. Two studies were conducted to investigate six- to eight-year-old children’s moral judgments of privacy-protective strategies (i.e., lie-telling, withholding, and truth-telling) in online and offline settings. Children were presented with a series of hypothetical dilemmas and evaluated the acceptability of using the privacy-protective strategies. The results showed that children viewed privacy lies and withholding as acceptable when disclosing personal information to strangers, with no significant difference between online and offline contexts (Study 1). Age differences emerged when confronted with the requests for personal information from friends (Study 2). Only eight-year-olds evaluated privacy lies as more acceptable and preferred offline truth-telling over online. These findings offer new insights to children’s moral judgments of lying and understanding of privacy risks.