The Myth of the Tech-Savvy Teen and the Clueless Senior Citizen

• Date: 01 September 2018
• Author: Travis C. Pratt
• Published date: 01 September 2018
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016818763245
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

The Myth of the Tech-Savvy

Teen and the Clueless

Senior Citizen: Revisiting

Technology-Based

Victimization Over the

Life Course

Travis C. Pratt

1

Abstract

It is a popular idea that younger people are more technology-savvy than their older counterparts. It

is an equally popular idea that our oldest generation—senior citizens—is so clueless about new

technological developments that they are the most vulnerable to technology-based forms of victi-

mization. The present article, however, demonstrates that these ideas are myths and that it is the

young—not the old—who are most at risk of victimization when technology is involved. This should

come as no surprise since the age–victimization curve mirrors rather closely the age–crime curve,

where the risk of victimization typically peaks in late adolescence and early adulthood and follows a

steady decline thereafter. The risks associated with technologically based forms of victimization—at

least in general—are no different. The implications of dispelling these myths for criminological

research as we move forward are discussed in the context of the nature of “risky” behaviors at

different stages of the life course.

Keywords

technology, victimization, life course

Criminologists often find themselves being “MythBusters.” And there has been no shortage of myths

to bust, as we have had to set the record straight several times. In just the last few decades, for

example, scholars have challenged the popular notion that we can build our way out of the crime

problem with more and more prisons (it turns out, we cannot, see Pratt, 2009), some thought we

could eradicate violent crime by arresting people for minor offenses like using a squeegee on an

unsuspecting motorists’ windshield (an proposition, i.e., at best, wildly overstated, see Harcourt,

1

University of Cincinnati Corrections Institute, Cincinnati, OH, USA

Corresponding Author:

Travis C. Pratt, University of Cincinnati Corrections Institute, 2840 Bearcat Way, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA.

Email: pratttc@ucmail.uc.edu.

Criminal Justice Review

2018, Vol. 43(3) 360-369

ª2018 Georgia State University

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DOI: 10.1177/0734016818763245

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