for K-12 educators and administrators to help create safe learning environments.
Have you heard about Sextortion? It’s a real thing. We love this Thorn Video. It really speaks to kids!
Last week, our Safety Management team received a considerable number of inquiries from educators concerned about the game “Blue Whale,” which has ostensibly resulted in the death of dozens of teenagers by suicide. Despite our position that the Blue Whale game does not represent a real threat, this does nevertheless present an opportunity.
Students and teachers might assume that their data is just broadcasted on their favorite social network and shared with their friends, but what they post often is shared with third-party vendors. To understand how this happens, consider how Facebook manages users’ content.
While Reddit can be a resource for students who wants to view the “front page of the internet,” it also has potentially offensive or extremely graphic content.
Signal is a bare bones messaging application for iPhone and Android, specializing in secure and encrypted communication between users. Here are some pros, cons and tips for educators.
We laud the efforts of Instagram and others to create safer online environments and kinder communities, and hope they continue to promote values aligned with digital citizenship.
Swarm is a very focused app that is only truly functional if the user is visiting physical locations and checking in. Because of the need to check in and the competitive aspect, students could leave themselves vulnerable to online predators and other dangers.
As the adage goes, “the only permanent thing in the universe is impermanence.” This is certainly true of the Stories feature on social media—made popular by Snapchat, which has recently been implemented by Instagram and Facebook as well.
