Nearly a Third of U.S. Teenagers Use Technology to Cheat

September 7, 2017

By: Sharon Noguchi
Source: eSchool News

U.S. teenagers think they are savvy about cybersecurity–so much that nearly one-third skirt school safeguards to access banned content and 29 percent admit to using tech devices to cheat in school–but more than twice that many say they know of classmates who have cheated with devices, a survey found.

The findings of the survey by the computer security firm McAfee are in proportion with a 2009 survey by Common Sense Media–although the exact extent of cheating, and whether it’s changed over the years, is unknown.

It’s easy, students say, to take a cell phone photo of notes or test answers, and then peek at it surreptitiously while taking a test. At the same time, they note, vigilant teachers notice those wayward glances.

McAfee conducted the online survey in June of about 3,902 high school students ages 14 to 18 years old–1,201 of them in the United States, the rest in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. In general, the percentages of reported cheating and accessing banned sites were higher in the United States.