Social media is a part of our lives. It’s a relevant part of our communication and socialisation, but it can also be dangerous. Whether you’re on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat – social networking sites are all over the Internet, and there’s no way to escape them.
Due to the advent of social media in our lives, it is impossible to live without it. We have included it in our routine to day activities. Whether browsing news or watching funny videos on YouTube, they can be achieved by using Social Media Applications like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. These things are essential in enhancing our knowledge and relationships and building new ones. Even students are involved in these activities, which also help them in their studies.
Social media provides us with opportunities that students can easily use to develop skills they need to work upon after graduation. They learn how to manage themselves properly through social networking sites because they have access to what people are uploading worldwide, so they get updated with all that is happening around them. Students can express their opinions freely without fear of the consequences. Social media benefits students by developing political understanding, awareness of current affairs, and learning how to resolve conflict peacefully.
But what about safety? Can we still be safe while scrolling through our newsfeeds and updating our statuses? The answer is yes! Social platforms can be an excellent way to stay in touch with friends, family members, or classmates – but you need to ensure that the people you follow are trustworthy!
This article will talk about social media internet safety tips that will keep you and your family’s details and information protected from anything harmful.
Social Media safety tips for students
Social platforms can be a great way to stay in touch with friends and family – but there’s also another side to it. People are becoming ruder on social sites, so safety tips are more important today than ever before. One area in which we all must update ourselves is the art of human hacking, also known as social engineering. Read about the social engineering life cycle, its attack methods and prevention tips.
Being a high school or college student, your studies and grades are essential in life right now. Make sure social websites don’t distract you from your studies.
You might use social platforms to do homework, study for exams and access your school’s social networking websites. Even though social networking seems like such a little tiny part of it all – there’s more than meets the eye.
Students, especially teenagers, must be taught how to use social platforms responsibly at an early age so they can protect themselves online once they grow up. If you want to ensure our next generation stays safe on social sites – read our tips below!
Top 10 tips on how to stay safe on social media
- Never share photos, videos or anything other than texts on any social networking site.
- Do not share any personal information that can identify who you are with anyone online, whether a schoolmate or someone from another country.
- Do not share your passwords with anyone.
- Friend requests must not be accepted from anyone you don’t know personally; do not accept any friend requests from strangers.
- Spring clean your contacts regularly to remove any contacts you don’t know, anyone who spreads negative messages or someone who doesn’t make you feel good about yourself.
- Keep your social profiles private without removing them entirely. You can permanently delete anything that isn’t appropriate once the person gets older and learns how to be responsible online.
- Avoid communicating with people who are strangers to you, even if they seem nice at first glance.
- Do not give out personal information on social networking websites unless your parents have permitted you to do so.
- Use multi-factor authentication, change your passwords regularly, and ensure they’re strong enough to prevent being hacked.
- Report cyberbullying immediately to your parents and the social website.
Students might be using social networking websites during school hours – but that doesn’t mean you should be doing it all day, every day. There are social networking safety tips for students that you need to follow to stay safe online while using social websites such as Facebook and Twitter:
- When looking up information online – use a private window, so no one else can see what you’re searching about. Not all browsers offering private (incognito window) allow privacy. Read this Forbes article.
- Do not post sensitive photos on social accounts.
- Avoid talking to any strange person online (and if you do – make sure they’re people that you know in real life)
- Do not post personal pictures online; instead, use a sharing site and share photos with specific contacts with privacy settings.
- You should not post anything that could be considered inappropriate or stupid – it may cost you your future job opportunities!
- There can be fake communications pretending to be a trusted organisation such as Facebook that will try and get you to log in.
- Do not post any of your friends’ personal information. They must choose what is appropriate for all their followers to see.
- Ensure the platform you’re using is appropriate for the age group you’re targeting and that your organisation can maintain it properly.
- Do not use social websites on the day of an exam or when studying for one because it can be very distracting.
- Do not use social networking websites when you should be sleeping because it can affect your sleep cycle and make you tired for school the next day.
Social networking safety tips for parents
One of the most common reasons parents restrict their child’s social media access is because they are afraid their kid will be bullied or threatened online. Some great apps allow you to read what your kid is posting online without even having access to their phone – it’s called parental control.
Parents are usually more concerned about “stranger danger” than kids themselves. It means that parents generally protect their kids from strangers and predators on social sites.
This is a valid fear, and we cannot deny that bullying can happen on social sites, which is why it’s essential for parents to be aware of how their kids are using such sites. However – this doesn’t mean that all social platforms are dangerous. That’s the reason, we encourage you to let your children join the online world by staying safe with them and teaching simultaneously.
Parents, if you’re reading this article right now – make sure your kids know these rules as well! If you don’t follow them, it’ll be too late and something happens to them because of their actions on social networking websites.
- Check the privacy settings of every social networking account regularly and keep them as private as possible; this will make sure that your kids are safe from people you don’t know about.
- Keep an eye on whom your kid follows and what they like/dislike online.
- Check your kids’ friends and followers on social media platforms.
- Keep an eye on their search history.
- Please do not allow your kids to share photos on social platforms that can give away too much personal information or reveal personal details about them.
- Make sure that their social media profiles are not connected to any of the devices in your home (computers, tablets etc.)
- Teach them about social media safety and why it’s important to be careful online; only let them use social networking websites with you sitting next to them so they can ask questions if needed.
- If you notice that your kid has online drama or fights with someone, make sure to take action as soon as possible, before the situation gets out of control.
- Do not let them use social websites when they’re alone, because then it will be too late for any kind of safety measures!
- You must talk to your kids about social media and the consequences of using sensitive information online, such as losing a job, etc.
Our director contributed to this article that is well worth reading on how to be careful while posting kids photos. Check it out here.
Surprising Facts About Social Media
Social media is a great tool for communication and sharing information, but it can also be dangerous. An increasing number of kids are using social media day by day, especially when it comes to sites like Instagram or Snapchat.
However, some of these “social” websites aren’t actually safe because privacy settings don’t allow them to protect themselves from strangers. It’s important that everyone understands what they should do if something happens while they’re browsing the Internet or through their social network profiles.
Before we end our article, let’s discuss some social media safety facts.
Before we end our article, let’s discuss some social media safety facts.
- Social media accounts are not private.
- Social media doesn’t have a place for secrets; everything you post online is available for everyone to see.
- People can easily get a hold of your information and share it with others, including strangers.
- Someone is always watching you on social media – make sure it’s a friend and not an online predator!
- There are a huge number of people online who have bad intentions, so make sure to stay safe on social media.
- Social media is not safe for kids.
- Everything you post online can be accessed by any person who knows how to look for it.
- Even though social media sites say that they only share the information with other users – this is not true. Our data is being sold to advertisers and marketers by them, which can be dangerous too!
- One in every five children and teens have been bullied or harassed online.
- Online harassment is a crime.
Conclusion
People are using social media for several years have found it very helpful in improving the knowledge needed for making career paths suitable for themselves. Through these platforms, students are benefitted from the opportunity of growing socially as well as mentally because they get to know diverse cultures, traditions & languages of people across the world through social media sites like Facebook, Twitter etc.
Social media safety is an important question that’s best answered by staying alert and careful. It is important that the above tips are kept in mind while going around your digital life.
Shahrukh, is a passionate cyber security analyst and researcher who loves to write technical blogs on different cyber security topics. He holds a Masters degree in Information Security, an OSCP and has a strong technical skillset in offensive security.
