Promoting Safe Online Practices for Teens

Understanding Your Digital Footprint

What Your Footprint Really Contains

It includes posts, comments, photos, location tags, and even deleted items stored in backups or screenshots. Colleges, recruiters, and friends sometimes view it, shaping first impressions before conversations begin.

A Moment That Changed Maya’s Mind

Maya once posted a joke that seemed harmless, until a scholarship committee asked about it during an interview. She learned context travels poorly online, and updated settings, captions, and sharing habits.

Your First Three Moves

Search your name in a browser, review the first two pages, and set up alerts for new mentions. Archive old profiles you do not need. Then invite a friend to pressure-test your visibility.

Social Platform Controls

Start with audience controls for posts and stories, disable automatic tagging, and restrict who can message you. Review every platform’s privacy dashboard monthly, and screenshot your settings checklist. Update whenever features change.

Two-Factor, Done Right

Turn on two factor authentication using an authenticator app, not just SMS, and store backup codes securely. Losing one phone should never lock you out or expose everything you care about.

Cyberbullying: Recognize, Respond, Report

Watch for sudden changes in posting, vague captions, muted interactions, or new anonymous accounts swarming comments. Save timestamps, capture screenshots, and check in privately, because early support often stops escalation.

Cyberbullying: Recognize, Respond, Report

Practice short, calm phrases that protect dignity and deescalate. For example, I am stepping away now, or Please stop contacting me. Document everything, block, and loop in trusted adults when needed.

Smart Sharing and Creative Posting

Before posting, breathe and count five, asking whether this could embarrass future you, reveal location, or hurt someone. That pause trains judgment, especially during exciting trends or emotional moments.

Smart Sharing and Creative Posting

Imagine your college application, first internship, or leadership opportunity reading this caption. Would it still represent your values? Rewriting once can turn a risky post into purposeful self-expression.

Designing Strong Passphrases

Combine unusual words, a memory hook, and separators, like museum-lamp-rocket or melody.citrus.rain. Longer beats complex randomness you cannot recall. Never reuse across accounts, especially school, email, or social platforms.

Family Password Manager Setup

Pick a trusted password manager, add family emergency access, and enable automatic syncing across devices. Teach parents and guardians how to use it, because shared understanding prevents lockouts during stressful moments.

What To Do After a Breach

If you suspect a breach, change passwords immediately, log out of other sessions, and check recent account activity. Notify friends about suspicious messages, and review connected apps that might have risky access.

Balance, Mental Health, and Screen Time

Set app limits, bedtime modes, and notification summaries. Move distracting icons off the first screen. Replace aimless scrolling with intentional lists, like check in with a friend or finish one creative task.

AI, Deepfakes, and Misinformation Awareness

Spotting Manipulated Media

Look for unnatural blinking, mismatched lighting, warped backgrounds, or fuzzy earrings and teeth in videos. Reverse-search profile photos, and compare voices across interviews. When uncertain, pause sharing until multiple sources agree.

Build a Fact-Check Toolkit

Build a tiny toolkit: reliable news apps, librarian-curated databases, and a note with three credible experts you trust. Check dates, author bios, and funding disclosures before accepting claims as truth.

Classroom or Club Project

Start a club experiment comparing headlines across outlets and countries, mapping how framing affects reactions. Present your findings at school, and invite parents to a learning night about deepfakes and verification.