Do's Of Social Media-
Think before post- Remember, your parents, your grandparents, your girlfriend/boyfriend, your future employer or your kids could be reading what you write (and making associated judgement about you and what your like.) Think about how this little comment or image or something on Social Media can impact the people around you.
Understand Privacy Settings- Understand the online limits to privacy settings and don’t stretch them by engaging with people you don’t know well at all. Also remember that your privacy setting can’t protect you from everyone in the world and always be aware of who you are talking to and sharing content with.
Remember that not everything you read online may be true- Someone you meet online may not always be a “friend”. You may not know anything about this person. They may have lied about who they are. Much of what you read is someone’s opinion (whether it is in a chat, a blog or an email). It is not fact. People can write whatever they want and there is no way to check that what they are saying is really true. If you have physically met someone in person before talking to the person online, there is an element of safety, although there still could be danger. However, if you are meeting the person online first, then you need to be very cautious about what you say and agree to do.
Always be cautious online- The same rules of relating to others that apply in real life apply online. As a basic rule, you should treat people, whether online or offline, as you yourself would like to be treated by others. Don’t send e-mails that may hurt others or are against the law. Don’t be rude or use abusive language in chats or e-mails. Don’t send emails when you are angry. Rather than send the email right away, save it as a draft and re-read it the next day before you send it. Once you have calmed down and thought about it, you will often change the email prior to sending it or not send it at all.
Report any signs of cyber bullying- Just stop and imagine if you were getting cyber bullied or even just bullied in general would you want your friends and community to just stand back and watch this happen or would you want people to report what is going on and help you out as much as you can.Being a bystander is a massive issue around the world, just imagine what it would feel like if you were the one getting bullied and nobody reported it. Reporting the situation may be embarrassing, however it the best thing you could do because the adult that you tell will try and help you the best they can and this can resolve the problem.
Don'ts Of Social Media-
Talking to strangers- is a massive don’t. Strangers are people that you have never met before. Yes some strangers may be harmless but when people reach out to teens telling them that they look pretty or other nice comments they tend to reply back and this can spark inappropriate conversations with strangers. A handy tip is to be aware about stranger danger and know about the privacy settings on your applications. Turn on your privacy settings and make sure you don’t accept random ads. Also don’t accept to follow people you don’t know.
Lying- Lying is a huge issue especially when people lie about who they are. People make fake accounts, with fake ages and profile pictures to lure people in and to try and start a conversation. The most common form of this on social media are Paedophiles. A Paedophile can be described as an older person who is sexually attracted to children and young teens. They try to lure young people in and start conversations and try to sexually attract them by acting as a young person. For a young teen this would be a dream come true with a person who may be attractive asking for photos of them and also repeating nice comments, however it’s when the paedophile wants more intimate conversations that it becomes a problem. So this is why you should never lie about your identity because it’s not a great way to build up your reputation, besides, they will find out the truth eventually.
Social networking risks might include your child connecting with people who humiliate, bully or stalk him or even someone who wants to harm him. They might also post comments, photos or videos of herself or others, which could cause problems. For example, images can be sent on to people your child doesn’t know, or they can get negative attention. Sometimes old and embarrassing images left online can even affect future job prospects.
Of course there are many more don’ts but these are just a few of the main ones. Remember to be wise around social media and always ask an adult if you are unsure of anything in particular.