According to Common Sense Media, the most common Cybersafety tips for young people are:
- Never share your real name
- Never friend people you don't know in real life - they might not be who they say they are
- Don't share where you live or where you go to school because someone could stalk you
- Don't share pictures of yourself in front of your school, home, mailbox (same reason as above)
- Don't ever meet someone in person who you met online
So, I put these 5 bullets to the test to see if our students were doing any of these things. I was really surprised to find that I could prove they are doing bullets 1-4 quite frequently. I would not be able to prove bullet 5 and I hope it is not happening.
I made up an alias on Facebook. I attached a picture from the Internet of a young girl in a group photo. I said I was from a different state but recently moved to Trussville and was attending Hewitt Trussville High School. Here are my findings:
Bullet #1: Students use their real name most often. Very few students use an alias or a nickname.
Bullet#2: I began to send friend requests to students I knew personally (but remember, I'm not a real person). I was shocked that 3 out of 5 students accepted my request almost immediately.
Bullet#3: I was able to see in the "about" section where they went to school. If it wasn't there, they used hash tags that would lead me to them as well such as, #htswag, #hths, #huskyfast. I did not see many students who had a picture in front of their house that would allow me to know where they lived. It would be a front door, a fireplace, a room, but nothing identifiable.
Bullet #4: I could easily find these students at church! Our students post pictures in front of their church, in church shirts, with hashtags that have church names, etc....
Bullet #5: not addressed
WOW! Our smart students, reared in good family homes with educated parents are not very cybersafe. This has been an eye opening investigation and allows me to share with our school administrators areas that need some preventive education. As a parent of pre-teens myself, this investigation has caused me to be more deliberate in teaching my children how to protect themselves and be more cybersafe.
P.S. I have since deactivated the account but within 2 weeks, my pretend Facebook alias had over 100 Facebook friends!
