Never share your private information online.
There is much concern today about sharing information online. As a society, we tend to overshare. While social media provides us with great tools for staying in touch with family and friends, it can also expose us to dangers. Posting pictures online that show landmarks, street signs, addresses, or businesses can provide strangers with information about where we live or the places we frequent. Internet trolls use software to troll the internet looking for information they can use to steal your identity. A recent news article cautioned parents about posting birthdates, full names, and other private information about their newborns because thieves could use that information to steal the infants’ identities. Sharing too much information allows access to your life that you may not be intending to share with strangers.
In our classrooms, we are teaching students to be careful about the information they share, and we practice this during weekly classes in the computer lab. Students are told that they are not to share private information. Private information includes full name, address, school they attend, date and place of birth, phone numbers, their parents’ credit card information, email address, or user names for online accounts, or local sports or activity clubs to which they may be connected. We encourage students to create nicknames to use online. Information that is safe for them to share are names of pets, favorite foods, sports teams they like, and hobbies they enjoy.
If you would like to learn more about how your online and shopping habits may be endangering you, watch these videos for information that might surprise you: How Private Is Your Personal Information?, How to Protect Your Personal Information Online,
Social, Smart, Secure. Tips for Staying Safe Online, Protecting Your Personal Information Online: 10 Things You Should Never Reveal and 5 Tips to Keep Your Child Safe on the Internet (Searchy Pants search engine is not longer available.) for ideas about protecting your child on your home computer.
These videos are suitable to show to children to help them understand which information is safe to share online and which isn’t: Private and Personal Information from Common Sense Media, NetSafe Episode 2: What Is Personal Information?, Wild About Safety with Timon and Pumba, Personal and Private Information Online, and Personal & Private Information, Pause and Think Online.
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Joyce Kirschner/Library Media Specialist
