…So you have your own blog…Your own e-mail account…Maybe even your own computer

When it comes to your life and the Internet, do you think you know it all?

…You might not. Answer these questions and find out.

DID YOU KNOW...

…that by posting your full name, your school, your phone number, your home address, a picture, you make it possible for normal people and for criminals to find you if they want to? Wake up and smell the bad news! Unless you think it’s cool to put your phone number on the bathroom wall, don’t put it online either.

…that the information you post online is available for everyone to see? Your mom, your dad, your principal, your future employer, old boyfriend, future girlfriend... anyone! Think before you post! Did you ever pass a note in class and have the teacher find it and read it to everyone? Nobody wants to be that guy. Can you say, “WTMI!”

…that the material you post online exists online forever? Once you hit “send,” other people can find and use that information, sometimes years later. Do you want your picture or personal information to keep you out of a good college, or out of a job? What will your future employer find when they Google you? …Unless you want to flip burgers for the rest of your life, be careful what you post!

…that when you put something down in writing on your blog, even as a joke, the police or school authorities may decide it is no joke and take action against you? What you do online can come back to bite you later. Your “private thoughts” are no longer private after you post them. If you take things too far—well, let’s just say we hope you look good in an orange prison jumpsuit.

DO YOU KNOW…

…what a friend is? Friends are people we know in real life, not people we know only online. You don’t tell personal things to just anyone at school or on the street. Don’t tell personal things to just anyone online either.

…that adults who want to make friends with kids online are major losers at best and criminals at worst? How would you feel if your parents tried to hang out with your friends? It’s embarrassing! Adults who have no friends, no social skills and no life go online and try to make friends with kids. Stay away from them.

…how dangerous it is to meet in person someone you met online, even if you bring a friend with you? Shine them on, tell them to get lost and tell them to get friends the real way: in real life.

…that there is no such thing as “free stuff”? When anyone asks you for your information (address, phone, e-mail) and offers to send you something for free, it’s probably a scam. They don’t want to give you stuff, they want your information. You might as well just install a virus on your computer yourself, or go to stalkme.com and tell them when you’ll be home alone.

…who your “go-to guy” or “go-to girl” is? Have an adult you trust (parent, teacher, neighbor) that you can talk to if something happens online that makes you feel uncomfortable. Adults are not actually as dumb as you think. Most likely your parents only got boring after they had you!

…that although bullying someone online might make you feel powerful for a little while, it can boomerang back at you in ways you didn’t expect? Anyone who says mean things about other people is really showing how they feel about themselves. Online bullying is a great way to lose your friends and it’ll make it really hard to get new ones.

…that a picture is worth a thousand words? What do the pictures you post online say about you? A sexually explicit or suggestive photo tells the world how you feel about yourself. Photographs are like advertisements. Are you valuable and interesting, or are you cheap and sleazy? Sleazy pictures attract sleazy people.

…how dumb—and dangerous—it is to communicate online with people who say sexual things to you? How gross is that? They don’t have a life and they think you don’t have one either. Prove them wrong, tell them to get lost, get offline and go hang out with your real friends.