Stop the Creepers and Cyberbullies! 5 Easy Ways to keep yourself safer online!

Who are Cyberbullies?  Cyberbullies are people who bully others online or using the phone.  Bullying is when people are mean, hurtful, or aggressive to each other.  Bullying is when people use their power (strength, information, or popularity) to hurt others.  Bullying happens over and over, or makes you afraid that it will happen again.

Who are Creepers?  Creepers are people who try to find information online that you don’t want them to have.  Since cyberbullies can use information to bully people, sometimes they use creeper tactics to find out information about you.  You can make it harder for creepers to find your information.

Tip 1: Set up your Privacy Settings  Most websites have privacy settings you can customize to keep creepers out.  If you haven’t looked at your privacy settings, creepers might be able to see what you’ve posted online.  Go to your service’s help page to find how to set your privacy settings.  Click here to learn about Facebook’s privacy settings. Click here  Click here to learn about Twitter’s privacy settings. Click here

Tip 2: Use Different Screen Names  Many web services ask you to make a screen name to identify yourself.  If you use the same screen name for every website, someone can find all about you just by googling your screen name.  Using a different screen name for each of your social networks can make it harder for creepers to find your other profiles.

Tip 3: Change your profile picture.  Many people use a picture of themselves as their public profile picture.  Google image search allows people to search for images the same way they search for text.  If you use the same profile picture for each profile, searching for that image can lead someone to all of your profiles!  Use a different picture for each account, or change your public picture to a funny picture.

Tip 4: Disable GPS for your phone’s camera.  Many smartphones take data about where and when a picture was taken.  Creepers can get this information from pictures you post online to find out where you hang out.  Disable your phone’s GPS for your camera app to keep the phone from logging this data.  Set up your Privacy Settings to keep creepers from seeing your pictures.

Tip 5: Watch what you post!  I know you probably hear this a lot, but be careful what you post online.  Once something is on the internet, it can be really hard to keep creepers from getting a hold of it.  The best tactic is to make sure you’re not posting anything you don’t want creepers to see.

Review:  Set up your privacy settings.  Use different screen names.  Change your profile picture.  Disable GPS for your phone’s camera.  Watch what you post. I’m sad that I can’t creep anymore.

For More Information…  For more info on how to stay safe from cyberbullies… check us out online! education.gsu.edu/schoolsafety facebook.com/gsuschoolsafety twitter.com/gsuschoolsafety