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Today’s teens are increasingly reliant upon technology in their everyday lives. Cell phones, PDAs, and the internet provide teens with almost constant communication. While technology has greatly improved teens’ ability to stay in touch with their friends, families, schools, and communities, these new technologies can also present a challenge to service providers who work with teens experiencing dating violence. In the hands of an abusive partner, the same tech devices and websites that connect teens can be turned into tools of abuse. The privacy offered by cell phones and the internet adds another layer of challenge for providers, as this same privacy often means that high-tech abuse is hidden. Providers can help protect their teen clients by understanding the challenges that technology presents and sharing strategies for teens to stay safe.

Many teens use cell phones, email, social networking sites, and personal computers every day. A recent study found that 93% of teens use the internet (Lenhart, Madden, Macgill, & Bromley, 2007), 72% own a desktop computer F, and 67% own cell phones (Lenhart et al., 2007); these numbers are increasing every year. More than half of 12 to 17 year olds who use the internet have a profile on a social networking site such as Facebook or MySpace(Lenhart et al., 2007), and nearly half of teens visit a social networking site once or more times daily (Lenhart & Madden, 2007). Teens are using the internet in every area of their lives and most report that the internet and other digital devices make their lives easier (Macgill, 2007).

When one considers the amount of time an average teen spends on a cell phone or the internet, it is not surprising that these technologies can become tools of abuse in the hands of an abusive dating partner. While teens experience the same types of abuse as adults, the methods may be unique to teens and teen culture; the use of technology is one area where this is easily seen. The controlling behavior, or monitoring, that abusers often exercise over their partners is easy to translate to the digital world. Teen abusers can easily monitor their dating partners by frequently checking in by cell phone, text or instant messenger (IM) or by requiring a dating partner to check in. One in three teens say they are text messaged up to thirty times an hour by a partner or ex-partner inquiring where they are, what they are doing, or who they are with (Picard, 2007). Between cell phone calls and frequent texting, an abuser can exert almost constant control over a partner day and night.

Slightly more technologically savvy teens can spy on or monitor a partner through spyware programs or Global Positioning System (GPS) devices. Spyware is computer software, installed on a personal computer without the owner’s knowledge, which can track internet usage, collect personal information, and intercept electronic communications. GPS-enabled cell phones can be accessed using online services to monitor the user’s location, often without the user ever knowing.

However, one need not be a technophile to use the internet to monitor a dating partner. Many teens post their schedule or location on their personal blogs, Facebook or MySpace pages. The list of people able to access this information is determined by the level of privacy that the teen has selected on his or her account. Many teens do not restrict access to the content that they post, including pictures. Recent reports show that 40% of teens make their online profile visible to anyone (Macgill, 2007) and 21% of teens do not restrict access to their photos (Lenhart et al., 2007). It can range from only those people on the teen’s list of “friends” to anyone with an account to anyone at all, with no restrictions. Many teens post enough information to allow anyone with access to find them at any point during the day – cell phone number, class schedules, addresses, extracurricular activities, social events, and jobs. Even if the teen does not post personal information, it may be available on a friend’s webpage or even a school website.

The potential for abuse through technology goes beyond mere monitoring to harassment, threats, and intimidation. One in four teens in a relationship has experienced harassment, namecalling, or put downs from a current or former dating partner through cell phone or text messaging (Picard, 2007). and nearly one in five has been harassed or put down through a social networking site (Picard, 2007). An abuser can use his or her own webpage to post personal information or unwanted pictures about a dating partner. Teens who share their passwords with friends and dating partners risk having their own email accounts and webpages accessed and used by abusive dating partners. The speed of communication on the internet allows this information to be shared among friends and classmates almost instantaneously, often before a teen even knows it has been posted.

Fear and intimidation through high-tech channels are just as real as any abuse in the non-digital world. Moreover, high-tech abuse does not happen in a vacuum. For many teens, threats or harassment via cell phone or the internet merely reinforce the threats and verbal abuse they have experienced in person. In fact, 17% of teens in a recent survey report that a boyfriend or girlfriend has made them afraid to not respond to a cell phone call, email, IM, or text message because of what he or she might do (Picard, 2007).

Teens are talking about high-tech abuse and believe it is a serious problem for themselves and their peers (Picard, 2007). Approximately half of teens believe that computers and cell phones make abuse more likely to occur in a teen dating relationship (Picard, 2007) and make it easier to conceal abuse from parents (Picard, 2007). Unfortunately, parents, teachers, and adult service providers are frequently in the dark about the abuse that occurs over cell phones and the internet. Teens are unlikely to report any abuse, including high-tech abuse, to parents or other adults. The hidden nature of such abuse means that unless a teen reveals the abuse or an adult looks into the teen’s computer or phone, it can easily go undetected. Sixty-seven percent of parents were unaware that their teens had dating partners check up on them thirty times a day on their cell phones and 82% of parents did not know that their teens were emailed or texted 30 times per hour (Picard, 2007). Monitoring via cell phone and text message often continues throughout the night, when teens are alone and parents are unaware of their teen’s activities. Nearly one in four teens in a relationship communicated with their partner by cell phone or text messaging hourly between midnight and 5:00 a.m. (Picard, 2007).