Guides

The Internet

Don’t arrange to meet up with anyone you contact on the web, unless your parents or carers say it is all right and agree to go with you.

Look out for your friends. Tell a responsible adult if you think that a friend of yours is at risk.

If you see something on a website that worries or upsets you, speak to your parents, carers, a teacher or your Guide Leader.

Social networking websites

Did you know that if you are under 13, then you shouldn’t be a member of any social networking websites, such as Facebook, YouTube or Bebo? If you are under 13 then they have the right to delete your account if you have created one. If you are between 13 and 17 years old, then you need to check with a parent or carer before you register.

Make sure that your profile is set to private. You don’t want anyone reading all the private gossip on your page!

Only accept friends that you actually know, like girls in your school or your Guide friends. If you get a friend request from someone you don’t know, don’t accept them.

Don’t publish or give out any of your personal details, including name, address, telephone number or where you go to school/Guides.

Be careful about publish pictures or videos of you and your friends. Make sure that these pictures/videos can be seen only by you and your mates. You don’t want random people you don’t know commenting on them, or copying them and using them themselves!

Think about what you use as your profile picture. You don’t want random people knowing your name and what you look like! Maybe you could use a picture of your favourite pop star or cartoon character? If you are a whizz with digital imagery, you could create your own unique design?

Chat rooms

If you chat to someone online and you don’t like what they are saying to you, copy and paste the text and save it to Word or Notepad. Alternatively, you can press the Print Screen button on your keyboard and paste the picture of your screen into an Image editor, like Paint or Photoshop. Tell a responsible adult or the moderator if you feel uncomfortable about a conversation.

If you find yourself in an unpleasant situation in a chat room you can log out, tell a moderator or change your screen name.

Email

Chain mail is an email you get that asks you to forward it on to your friends. Some chain mail can be really upsetting and nasty. If you receive an email that upsets you or makes you worried, speak to your parents, carers, a teacher or your Guide Leader. Don’t forward on chain mail, you won’t die/find your true love/have all your wishes come true by sending it on. If you were upset by it, think about those poor friends that you are sending it on to.

Always think about what you have said before you press the send button, especially if you are cross. If you are sending an angry email, type it out then save it. Open up the email again the next day to see if you still feel the same. You might feel differently once you’ve cooled down.

Text messaging

Don’t give out your mobile number to anyone other than your family and friends.

If you send pictures to people, be aware that they can forward the picture on to others. Don’t take pictures of things that people could find upsetting or hurtful.

Make sure that your Bluetooth is off, or if you want to keep it on, make sure you adjust your privacy settings so that no one can hack in to your phone and steal your pics! An easy way to do this is to change your password from the standard 0000.

If you want to know more about keeping yourself safe online, take a look at the Think U Know website.