Students & Online Safety: What They Don't Know CAN Hurt Them

I think we can all agree--for the most part--the internet is an amazing thing. Anything you want to learn more about, all you have to do is search and voilà: more information than you possibly need or want. But just like anything else, there's always a downside; all sorts of harmful content is available, and if our students know where to go, it's pretty easily accessible. So it's up to the adults in their lives to make sure they know how to behave online and how to stay safe.

I often hear from schools that have a student who shared something digitally that has then been shared/viewed by the masses, causing the student embarrassment, stress and other negative reactions. And while the short-term effects can be traumatic, sometimes it's the long-term ones that have even worse consequences. In the excitement of the moment, students do not think about how actions can immediately affect them, much less what the long-term effects can have on their lives:

• Universities more and more are researching prospective students' online content. What they find may lead them to rescind academic and/or athletic scholarships. This has happened at several Oklahoma colleges and will only continue to increase.
• Businesses have not offered positions when they discover applicants' online content. People have also lost their jobs based on things they have posted/shared online.
• People have been turned down for mortgages they wanted when the bank discovers applicants' online content and decide they do not want to be affiliated with them.