10 Internet Safety Tips for Teens and Tweens

Sometimes being on the Internet is like driving into oncoming traffic. It’s bad enough there are potholes, reckless drivers, and traffic jams to deal with when making your way down the “information superhighway” (bonus points for 90s tech references) but if you’re not careful you and your kids can inadvertently swerve into oncoming traffic.

Following simple safety tips will keep you safe on the real roads and these 10 Internet safety tips for teens and tweens will keep you and your kids safe on your digital drive.

1. Think before you post.
2. Respect other people online, and avoid gossip.
3. Ask for permission before you meet online friends in person.
4. Don’t feed cyberbullies—block the sender, ignore mean messages, file a report with the website or police.
5. Speak up if you see someone getting bullied.
6. Clean up your profile, eliminate your page of everything too personal, embarrassing, and illegal.
7. Use privacy settings.
8. Monitor what others post about you.
9. Keep adults in the loop—tell them when you add new sites, new friends, or see something suspicious or harmful.
10. Use your voice for good—use social media to do something productive for you or a cause.

How do you keep your kids safe online?

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Music for the podcast is “RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/