Welcome to the classroom!

This classroom is for the study of "the way of the meerkat", in which you will learn how to best interact with others on the internet, and learn what you should and shouldn't be sharing with them online! Below you will find a few paragraphs of information on the subject of sharing personal information online, as well as a short video summing up key points if you find the reading to be too lengthy. Are you ready? Let's begin!

The internet offers limitless ways to communicate with other people, such as online forums, social media, online games, and more. It's important to remember, however, that everyone you meet will most likely be a stranger to you! This is why you must be very careful with what you say or post online.
When talking to others, you should never reveal anything about yourself personally. People that you don’t know on the internet could gain information about you that they shouldn’t, like your address, phone number, what you look like, and financial information (information that could be used to steal money from you!) There's no telling what they might do with that information.
You can stay safe by following these tips: Don’t post pictures of yourself online anywhere to stay completely safe. Mind what websites you are feeding information to. An untrustworthy website may steal and store information like your credit card number. Avoid clicking random links that you find or that people send you, as they could be a trap to give out where you live. Don’t use your real name or any other personal information, like birthdays, for usernames online. Don’t say something you wouldn’t say in person. Things you say or do on the internet will often stay on the internet forever, even if you delete it! People may save things you post and re-post it themselves, which may get you in trouble if you did something you shouldn't have. While applying for universities or jobs, employers will often search you up online to find out more about you, and look at your social media accounts. For this reason, it's important to avoid posting offensive or explicit things.