Top 10 Back-To-School Online Safety Tips

Parents are in back-to-school mode now with last minute shopping for books, pencils, shoes and even mobile devices and laptops. But while we're making all those decisions it's also a good time to sit down with our kids to review online etiquette and safety tips. Yes, teens will roll their eyes and give you that "ya, I know" look but it's ultimately our responsibility, as parents, to nag the heck out of them (kidding! sort of) and to reinforce, what they may, or may not, know. 

For tweens just receiving their first devices, they'll be excited to start texting and all that. Sorry, moms and dads, that's the reality. You want the device for them to stay connected to you. They also want it to keep up with their friends. As a family, you'll need to find your comfort zone on this. 

A recent survey conducted by TELUS, revealed that 71 per cent of parents purchased their child's first mobile device before the age of 14. Parents say they want to be able to contact their child and to have it in case of emergency. At the same time, parents are worried about their child's online safety. 61 per cent of parents are concerned about the visibility of personal information and 50 per cent are concerned about privacy. A whopping 42 per cent of parents surveyed report that cyberbullying is a top concern when it comes to their child's safe use of mobile devices.

So, whether your child is a new device user or not, here are some tips provided by TELUS WISE and MediaSmarts, for your family to review: 

1. Review the permissions before giving permission. Apps and social sites often ask for access to personal information that could put you at risk. Set rules around what info you and your kids will share and with whom.

2. Keep it private. It is vital to constantly check and adjust privacy settings within apps and social sites to keep up with ever-changing defaults. Looks for app settings that share information publicly and change it to close friends only.

3. Set-up a 24/7 watchdog for your name. Create a Google alert for yourself and each of your family members to track how your names are being used online and where you’re being mentioned. 

4. Less is more. Limit the amount of potentially sensitive information posted online to lower chances of theft or abuse – think twice before posting last names, age, school names, vacation location or other personal info.

5. Keep connections personal. A good rule of thumb is to only connect and share with people that you know in real life. “Friending” people online whom you’ve never met increases your risk of exploitation.

6. Think before you click. Always read the full path of the URL link you are about to click to make sure it’s going to take you where you want to go.

7. Don’t be found. Turn off geo-tagging on smartphones and tablets to keep from being tracked. When this feature is enabled, your exact location can be exposed even if you’re just posting a photo. Ensure that apps that rely on location (e.g. Google Maps) are the only ones that have location enabled.

8. Lock it down. Set passwords that are at least six characters long. Use at least one symbol, number and uppercase letter; for extra security use different passwords for each website or account you use. 

9. Don’t log in and leave it. Always be sure to log out of social accounts and apps when you aren’t using them. Disable or deactivate accounts and apps you no longer use.

10. Keep your digital household clean.  Set a recurring 3-month calendar appointment to check your online profiles, confirm privacy and permission settings on the social media sites you subscribe to and review any apps that you’ve downloaded.