Teen Safety
Your parents, guardians and teachers will all be talking to you about online safety, but unless you actually practice it you are putting yourself in harms way.
You know the score – you have been through numerous online safety lessons in school. But knowing how to be safe and putting it into practice are two very different things. We know the pressure young people are under to portray a certain image online. But the online world is not real. Don’t believe what’s up there. You’ve done it yourself – taken 100 photos to get the perfect one to post
Create Strong Passwords
Don’t share them with anyone other than your parents. Don’t use the same password for different sites and accounts. Keep a physical copy, rather than store passwords in your phone. If you do need to store them in your phone - try apple passwords in your settings. Regularly change your passwords.
Privacy Settings
Ensure that your accounts are set to private - it's for your own safety! Instagram recently announced a new feature that will default all accounts under 16 years old automatically to private.
Friends
It's good to keep your circle close. Having a few hundred friends you never met is not always a good thing. Be careful and remember that you are sharing your life with your friends and followers. People are not always who they say they are.
Sharing Content
Once you share something it is there forever and open to be shared by your friends to their friends and on and on. Before you post something, be it a comment or a picture, ask yourself – and be honest, would you show it to your granny, your teacher or the bus driver? In a day, a week or a few years, would you still think it’s funny? Is it kind? Or would you still be proud of what you shared? If no, don’t post it. Never share anything that can identify your name/address/school/other private information. Fraudsters are extremely good at getting this information from you without you realising it and using it against you. Likewise, never post or share anything that can identify others.
Bullying
If someone gave you a slap in the street, would you stay there to get another? Or would you walk away and tell your parents? Or if your friend was being slapped, would you sit down and watch? Would you call others to sit and watch with you? Are you guilty of giving a slap or two online? Funny isn’t always fair – it’s important to be nice. What to do: E-bot Evidence – save any messages/phones. Take screenshots. Block the bully – don’t engage with them. Remove them from your circle. Off the platform – don’t stay in an unsafe environment. Talk to an adult about it.
Social media when used well is great. Unfortunately, there are too many dangers associated with it to be complacent. Don’t let it be a negative experience. The first signs of anything that you are not happy about – talk to an adult (your parents or teachers) for advice and help.
Don’t just heed the advice, practice it. Remove yourself from the bad and stay online for the good.