Online Safety

All social networks have a report function

What are we going online for?
What dangers might we see/face?
What can we do to make those activities safer?
How can we help people who might be in danger?

Dangers -


The more I think about it, the more I can't imagine a life without the internet. 'What's the wifi password, please?' rolls off my tongue with no effort at all and, 'just google it' has become second nature. I do remember life before broadband, I even remember life before dial up, but it's not a way of living I ever want to go back to.

I use the internet hard. It's my lifeline. I use it to keep in touch with near and far friends, to find things out, to watch films and programmes, to binge on YouTube videos and of course, for my job. Without it, I'd be lost- and I'm not just talking about for maps and directions!

Naturally, as with anything in life, there is a darker flip side to this digital playground of delights and in this chapter, we're going to look at a few ways we can keep ourselves safe online. That might sound all terribly sensible but trust me, these tips are worth knowing.

Before we delve into how we can stay safe, we must first look at the places we might find potential danger. To find the danger, we should look at exactly what we do online. Since I don't know what eeevvvverryone does, I'll go on my own digital habits.

Social Media for work.

I am a self confessed social media addict. My main gig is to make YouTube videos and the help share them, I turn to platforms like twitter, facebook, tumblr, pinterest and instagram. All of these have been created with the soul purpose of supporting my videos and whilst I enjoy sharing bits of my life and being a bit silly on them sometimes, they are primarily a work tool. I try to honour this at all times and keep things fairly family friendly, limit swear words and treat them how I would a work party (do you remember that chapter?). So, I have a lot of fun with them, I am personable and approachable, I chat freely with other people, but ultimately, I don't give every little louisey-peasy thing out on them and nor should you.

If you are using a social media platform as a tool for work, keep it that way, firstly for yourself but also for you boss/business. If you need a separate account for your drunk undying affirmations of love to everyone you went to school with or a place to vent about waking up late, stepping on the cat and missing your bus, make one. I have an entirely personal facebook account that is full of all the stuff you wanna tell your nearest and dearest but a lot of it would never in a thousand years make it to a Sprinkle of Glitter place. I think I would die of cringing haha!

If you account is a business one, keep it that way. You're not going to look at all cool to your manager or potential/existing customers and clients if at 2am you tweeted about eating ice cream in your ex boyfriends old pajamas, unless of course your in the ice cream business. In which case, hit me up! What I'm trying to say here is, always be mindful of keeping a professional tone online, just as you would at your actual place of work. Just because it's online, doesn't mean it's hidden or doesn't count- it absolutely does.

Ooooeeeee that felt like I was almost telling you off! I wasn't, I've just learnt that lesson the hard way, even though my job is all about being relaxed and saying pretty much whatever I like! Eeep!

Another thing you should be aware of are the people you are interacting with. Obviously I'm not saying you need to vet every single one but, if you are starting to interact a little bit more with one person, a quick internet search on them wouldn't go amiss.

If at any point you feel worried or alarmed, all social media platforms have a 'report' button which allows you to highlight negative behaviours or people who are being inappropriate. Take a few minutes to look out for those features and familiarise yourself with them, in case you ever have a need to use those facilities. Sounds a bit geeky but you might one day be pleased you did it!!

Shopping.

Oh me oh my how I love internet shopping. ASOS is a place I spent far too much of my time and Accessorise is just an oasis for me on a busy work day. I take great pleasure in purusing through the pages and searching for things I really like the look of. Sometimes I play a little game with myself (how incredibly wild I am!) where I just let myself have a Wis Basket and I just fill it up with every single thing I want from the site, with no limits or restrictions. Obviously I never purchase the basket but the fun is in searching and finding, not so much in having. Does anyone else do that or should I re-think my idea of a 'good night in'? Heh heh.

When you are actually making a purchase though, you are involving yourself in a financial arrangement and that is something you should be aware or and look after.

The biggest tip I have is that if you are using Paypal or internet banking, always be sure to regularly change your passwords, never share them with anyone and every time you are done with the site (like your banking website I mean), log out. Not just click the cross in the right hand corner but fully log out of your online account. Doing these things will help reduce your chances or naughty money burglars getting you.

3. Research.

4. Leisure/Watching Stuffs.

5. Banking.

6. Uploading Content.

7. Connecting with Friends.