Safe Surfing
Surfing the net, chat rooms, messaging and texting your friends can all be cool ways to keep connected. But you need to know the risks so that you can stay safe.
- Never use your real name in chat rooms.
- Only arrange to meet someone you have been chatting to with your parent/ carer's permission and at a time when they can be present.
- Don't give out personal information in chat rooms or on web sites (address, mobile number, passwords, school, the clubs you go to, photos of yourself), even if someone tells you things about themselves.
- Never respond to rude or mean messages (and don't send any to other people).
- Be careful about accepting e-mails or opening files if you don't know and trust the person who sent them - they can contain viruses that may damage your computer or nasty images.
- Agree some rules with your parents about what's OK to do online and what isn't - it will save arguments later!
- If anything makes you feel uncomfortable or worried, talk to your parents/carers about it.
- Remember, not everyone is who they seem and not all information on the Web can be trusted.
- Never give your mobile number out to someone you don't know and, if you ever start getting annoying or offensive texts, tell your parent/carer straight away.
