With the years I learned some rules of behavior on internet, but I wonder if there is some kind of extensive guide for parents who are not experienced with technology.
For example, I don’t think content blockers are a good idea for teenagers. It works for kids, but teenagers will find workarounds because parents were lazy about teaching them the dangers and instead used a spyware app.
Here is a bad written list of some obvious rules:
- Be anonymous
- Use private social media accounts
- Do not tell any personal information
- Use ad blockers
- Learn to recognize ads
- Learn to recognize AI generated text and images
- Learn to recognize scam
- Understand consent
- Learn to prevent blackmail
- Learn to prevent grooming
- Learn how fake pornography is and the unrespectful content
But I wish there was some kind of step by step guide
- Learn to recognize pishing mail and sms
- Do not share nude pics of yourself (even not to your boy/girlfriend)
- Do not upload pics of your face to funny AI apps
- Learn to recognize and ignore social media trolls
- Learn netiquette writing style in social media
- Do not write bad things about colleagues and boss in emails at work
- Recognize dark shopping patterns such as time counter, discounts, voucher height
- Recognize fake shops
- Recognize no returns (Chinese) shops
- Recognize gambling patterns in games such as loot boxes, rewards and more for real money
- Understand the money loss through subscription schemes
- Do not buy now and pay later
Sorry for this long list. It’s just a terrible place for kids
- Do not upload pictures of your face ANYWHERE, period - including private chats
- Do not use any name even resembling your real one, or rederencing your known interests
- If something asks for a phone number, avoid using it
- If it is mandatory (like for government services) or very hard not to use (like Whatsapp or Telegram), ask the parent first, maybe there is an aliasing solution
- If the data sharing is mandatory, try digging deeper for alternative options because it may turn out to be not so mandatory
- Do not post anything political or even remotely questionable in the current climate (should be talked about with the parent), and must understand you can be arrested for pretty much anything and be made an example of
- Each time an application is installed, think about what data it is able to access, pay attention to permissions
- Prefer FOSS programs for everything possible
- Learn to treat a Windows PC or a non-degoogled phone as a fundentally unprivate device and learn to not trust them with personal things (if I were a parent, I’d install a privacy-preserving OS on a device prior to giving it to a kid anyway)
Do not post anything political
i agree with the underlying point, but everything is political. The real point is not to post anything outside the overton window. This country talks alot about “free speech” and whatnot. But if you start speaking out against genocide, imperialism, capitalism, etc., you might find your life ruined. Thus this “anonymous” account.
Thank you !
Now I should add
- Learn to recognize malwares
- Learn to block disturbing people and to ignore haters
Can you explain what you meant by netiquette and do noy pay later?
There’s a lot of “services” like Klarna where you buy now for payments split over several months. At first glance these often seem ok but they’re essentially loans with credit card interest rates.
If the BNPL offer comes with 0% interest and you pay with debit, or a credit card that you always pay off timely, I don’t see how it can be such a bad thing. Spending your money immediately, especially with the inflation accounted for, a fix $50 over twelve or twenty-four months means you actually came out ahead theoretically, since your money went further.
The only catch here is of course that vendors will price their goods accordingly, where BNPL or loans will be the only way to afford their goods.
I disagree with the “don’t ask stupid questions” any question you ask might be viewed as stupid by someone who knows the answer. Better to say “don’t ask questions you know are stupid”.
Do not share nude pics of yourself (even not to your boy/girlfriend)
With automatic cloud backup, even taking a nude photo with a connected device is a risk. And once you upload it to the Internet, it’s out of your control. You can put your trust in a company but we’ve seen them fail to protect your data so many times.
Always remember that corporations will if able exploit your child as much as possible. Help your kids learn that any corporation type platform will filter things and change based on what they want your kids to see.
I think you’re missing of the most important parts:
- learn to avoid addictive content
This means:
- games w/ MTX
- clickbait/doom scrolling
- gambling
Others got into that as well, but I honestly try to keep things simple, so I’ll leave it as assuming that everyone on the internet is trying to screw you. For example:
- someone you don’t know in person is being extra nice? They probably want something from you.
- a deal looks too good to be true? It probably is.
- something says you need to take urgent action? Probably a scam.
The internet is not a regulated place, so be vigilant about figuring out how the other party is trying to screw you and you should catch most of the crap out there. Yeah, not everyone is trying to screw you, but you should always assume they are.
My biggest rule is not on your list:
- Only add friends that you have met in person.
Also, be sure to apply Richard Stallman’s privacy rules. To summarise, all data that leaves your device is effectively out of your control. Assume all of this data is captured and stored, and will be used against you at some point.
I’ve met some good friends online that I later met up with in person. Though this was only after chatting and gaming with them for years. Meeting in a public place reduces a lot of the risk. I wouldn’t want to give out my address or meet at someone’s house.
I think this is close to what you’re looking for: https://www.missingkids.org/netsmartz/home
Click the “Peer Learning” pdf on the home page.
This one https://www.missingkids.org/content/dam/netsmartz/itc/downloadable/Peer Education Kit.pdf ?
Looks good, could be used in classrooms (I doubt they will here though since education is so much out of touch with reality)
