Lets start with the general safety tips for the internet:
- Never give out personal information like your full name, phone number, address, or any other identifying information to a person you don't know, or a website that is not trustworthy.
- Side note: when chatting, remember that anyone you chat with online that you don't personally know in your life could be lying to you about their age, gender, location, or anything else about themselves that they have told you. Proceed with caution.
- Nothing you put on the internet is ever completely deleted or forgotten. Teens have been suspended or expelled from school, been fired from their jobs, and been arrested or threatened with arrest over things that they have posted on the internet. Don't post anything on the internet that you wouldn't want your parents, your sisters or brothers, your teachers, your principal, or the police chief to see.
- If anyone on the internet ever says or does something that makes you uncomfortable, tell an adult you can trust. Keep lines of communication open with the adults you trust.
- Never agree to meet someone face to face alone. Go with your parents or another trusted adult and always meet in public places where other people are present.
- Know that your ISP (Internet Service Provider) probably has rules about what kind of activity is permitted. If you violate these rules, your internet, and possibly the internet of everyone in your house could be disabled, temporarily or permanently.
- You can set your Facebook profile to PRIVATE! This is a very, very good idea. Your friends can still search for you by name or email, but no one will be able to see anything except your name without getting your permission first.
- Facebook requires you to put your name and age to sign up for a profile, but it's a good idea to use a nickname or a shortened version of your name to protect yourself from identity theft. If your identity is stolen, you may not even know about until years from now when you're applying for a job or a credit card!
- There are many options for what to show on your profile, one of them is that you can hide your birthday, this is a good idea if you don't have your profile set to private. (Which I definitely recommend!)
- Again, if you have not set your profile to private yet, make sure your home address is not public information! Would you want strangers knowing exactly where you life?
- Even when your profile is set to private, people searching for you will be able to see your profile picture. Consider what information they can get from it. Are you wearing a school uniform, or standing outside a local store? There are people on the Internet who could want to hurt you, so giving them clues about yourself is not the best idea. Good profile pictures include pictures of just your face or a picture of you with a group of friends.
- Don't accept every friend request. Accept the people you know.
- Think carefully before giving out your phone number. Remember that once a person has it, they can call you whenever they want to or text whatever they want to you, including pictures. Make sure it is someone you know and trust first.
- If someone starts to act hurtful, abusive, or is interacting with you in some other way that is making you uncomfortable, you have options! You can always start with asking them to stop, if they are a close friend. Other options include unfriending them or blocking them entirely. If you find yourself in a situation where you need help, ask a trusted adult.
- Visit Facebook's Safety Center to learn more: http://www.facebook.com/safety/
- Check your privacy settings here: http://www.facebook.com/settings/privacy.php and I highly recommend that you at least choose "friends only" for everything.
Internet Awareness Commercial
Alrighty, that's all I've got. Good luck out there in cyberspace!
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