I’m not sure how we missed this here at Techaeris but yesterday I stumbled upon a series of Internet safety videos from Google’s Online Safety Roadshow. We had a short Tech Security How To series here recently, and Google’s series give a nice bite sized overview of many important online safety topics including thinking before you share, protecting your stuff, knowing and using your settings properly, avoiding scams, and being positive.
The Google Online Safety Roadshow was developed with teens in mind, and strives to be a “Driver’s Ed for the web.” The videos below come with Online Roadshow Activity handouts for teachers, but you can easily do this at home as well. I know they’re along the lines of what my kids are being taught in school regarding Internet footprints (or your online story) and being safe, and if your school doesn’t teach that — or you simply want to give your kids a refresher as well, you can in about 10 minutes with these quick, witty, and easy to understand videos. Not only are these short videos great for kids, they’re also great reminders for adults as well.
Think Before You Share
To help create the best version of your online story, remember to think before you share. Anything you post online can be forwarded, copied, and found, and travel farther than you intended it to. What you share, and who you share it with, can end up saying a lot about you. So remember to be thoughtful!
Protect Your Stuff
Most of us have things on the web that we want to keep safe. One of the best ways to keep those things secure is to make sure that you have set strong passwords on your accounts. Protecting your stuff also means locking devices and your screens and logging out of accounts on public and shared computers. Leaving screens and accounts open could result in unwanted account accessing.
Know & Use Your Settings
The settings on the sites you visit allow you to choose what you share and who you share with. Understand and adjust your settings on the sites and apps you use so that you only share with those people that you want to share with. This means posts, geotagging, photo uploading, profiles, and more.
Avoid Scams
Know how to identify scams online. If someone offers you some new shoes, a free iPad or an all expense paid trip to Hawaii, you should be suspicious. These offers might seem harmless, but these could be dangerous ways to get your personal information.
Be Positive
Treat others the way you want to be treated, offline and online! Being positive on the web means that you should only post, comment or forward something, if you wouldn’t mind someone doing the same to you.
What did you think about the Google Online Safety Roadshow series? Is there a topic you’d like to see Google cover in the future? Let us know in the comments below, or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook — and don’t forget to check our Tech Security How To series for more insight, tips, and tricks.
[button link=”https://www.google.com/safetycenter/web/roadshow/index.html” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Google[/button]
