Module 11: Youth Engaging with the Online World

Summary

Spending time online is becoming the norm for many youth and individuals in general. Though there are many positive reasons for one to be online, there are also risks to consider. This module covers a number of topics related to online use, such as critical thinking in the areas of online presence, information sharing, disinformation, online engagement, and social connection. It also provides practical tips for keeping yourself safe online. 

11.1 Life Online 

Many youth feel as though they have to have an online presence to keep up with what everyone else is doing. The fear of missing out (FOMO) can be intense. This may be felt even more so by young people who are living in isolated communities – if they don’t feel connected within their communities, they may look for other people to connect with within the larger online world. 

11.2 Online Critical Thinking 

Critically thinking about what you’re doing online may sound difficult, but you’re actually already doing it every time you think twice about accepting a friend request or posting an Instagram photo. 

Creating a thoughtful online image of yourself requires some critical thinking. Critical thinking about your image online can start with taking a look at your privacy settings. To get an idea of how yoursocial media profiles look to someone from the outside, you can log out of your profiles and search them on Google using your username and the name of the social media platform. For example, if your Facebook privacy settings are relatively open, anyone who Googles your name may be able to scroll through your Facebook profile and see everything you’ve posted since your profile was created. 

Take a moment to consider what you would like to have as public knowledge. For example, if someone came across your private Instagram profile, they might be able to tell a few things about you based on the information you have in your bio. If your profile is public, viewers can potentially find out more information based on your location tags, frequently tagged people, and your follower/following lists. 

Activity

Type your first and last name into a search engine online (E.G. Google, Bing).  

• What is the first thing that comes up?
• Do the links to your social media accounts show up? On the first page?
• What images come up when you search for your name?
• Reflect on what is linked to your name, is this information your comfortable with?
• How can this search inform your online activities moving forward?
• Who do you think is most likely to search for you online?

11.3 Passive Information Sharing 

Information that gets shared when you post a photo or tag a location can be called passive information – it is information that gets included in your main action of sharing online. This is important to note, as it can give more information to someone who shouldn’t necessarily have it. 

For example, if you are posting the same Snapchat story of your school every day at 8:30 AM and 3:00 PM, it would be easier for someone to find out what school you go to and what your schedule is like. As discussed in Module 3, an exploiter who is trying to lure and groom a young person may add them on Snapchat, notice the youth is posting about their school and various daily activities, and take advantage of that information to start a conversation with the youth and establish trust. Again, exploiters know what to look for when trying to lure and groom young people – it is never the young person’s fault if they are approached by an exploiter. 

If something personal is shared without your consent or you feel uncomfortable about the way someone is speaking to you online, it can be helpful to have a list of safe adults that you feel comfortable going to. If you find that there aren’t any adults you feel comfortable speaking with, you can check out Cybertip.ca for online safety resources, and reporting options. 

11.4 The Rise of “Fake News” and Disinformation 

Your critical thinking skills can also be strengthened by taking a closer look at things such as the content you’re seeing in your newsfeeds and the information you’re hearing from gaming pals. This can be looked at through public fake news and disinformation about current world events, certain demographics, etc. 

Fake news can be defined as false information that is published as valid or “real.” This could be something as simple as a “clickbait” article, where the title is designed to catch your attention and emotions, and the content doesn’t match up.  

If you’re wondering if the information you’re reading is true or not, here are a few things you can look at:

• The source: what website/journal/newspaper is the article in? What kind of information do they tend to publish?
• The author: what background does the author have? Do they only include their opinion? What kind of language do they use? Is it deterministic (e.g. always/never/100%), over-inflated (e.g. very, extremely, abysmal, horrific), does it have an implicit or secondary meaning (e.g. racist, associated with extreme viewpoints).
• The ads: what advertisements are shown on the page?

Fake news can include sensationalized news stories, information that is shared with the intention of discrediting a narrative/person/or viewpoint, a parody that presents current events in a humorous way, or to discredit information that is unflattering. Satirical fake news is often neutral or harmless, as it is obvious of the intention behind sharing the information this way. The fake news company, The Onion, is a great example of this. 

More recently, fake news has been used in political movements, social movements, and to lure and groom youth. As fake news becomes more relevant and commonplace online, things like fake job ads, fake profiles, and fake news stories become harder to identify. This means, that even the most practiced critical thinkers are consuming fake news/information without knowing it. For youth, parsing out the evidence-based information from the false information can be even more difficult. If looking for a job, or a new place to live, youth need to contend with scams and intentional luring and grooming rings. This creates a lot of vulnerability as these mechanisms are becoming very sophisticated. Reads about the experience of a young Toronto couple experiencing a online rental scam here. 

Sometimes fake news is published and built upon as a way to make disinformation seem true. Disinformation can be defined as false information that was created with the intent to mislead and/or deceive those that receive it. 

With so much information out there, how do you know what is true? You may have noticed throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram have created a “fact check” notification that lets the viewer know whether the presented information is misleading. Even with this notification, it is worthwhile to do some research yourself to see what you find. 

11.5 How to Manage The Doom Scroll 

For many youths, and most people in general, a good chunk of time online can be spent “doom scrolling,” or continually scrolling through your phone, switching between apps, and taking in content that is upsetting, triggering, or just plain unpleasant to look at. 

This may look like people experiencing discrimination, violence occurring throughout the world, human rights violations, injustice, people being discriminatory and harmful towards others, and many other things. 

You may find that you aren’t spending time online in the way you would like, getting caught up in the doom scroll, and there is no shame in noticing this. 

Activity

Activity Log – daily/weekly lof of time spent online, what apps you’re using, what content you are engaged with. Does this affect your mood, your interests, what you are purchasing, and how you spend time? If so, are these effects you would like to maintain or change?

One of the most important things to note is that you have power and choice in how you engage online. It is okay if you want your TikTok to be filled with positive, informative accounts. You can choose to seek out information about world events on your own time and space, instead of having it flood your brain whenever you open your phone. We as humans are not meant to take in the current volume of information that is constantly increasing online. Take the time to put your phone down and walk away, it is okay to create boundaries around what information you are exposed to. 

11.6 Social Connection 

One of the main attractions of being online is the ability to connect with others. This can be a combination of people you do and do not know. You practice your critical thinking skills every time you take a moment to consider if you should accept a friend request or open a message. 

11.7 Ways To Assess Safe People 

Most apps allow you to connect with others – this could be through direct messaging, group chats, voice chats, gaming together, etc. 

With this method of communication, there is a great chance that you will come into contact with someone you don’t know personally. 

If you’re wondering how to assess if another person is safe to talk to, here are a few things you can check on: 

• What does their profile look like?  
• Do they have any photos of themselves?  
• Can you tell how old they may be? 
• Do you have any friends in common?  
• How may have this person come across your profile? 
• If they send you a message, how does the message come across? 

If you’re getting a weird feeling about talking to someone, it is perfectly okay to trust your gut. Your instincts are pretty good at telling you when something’s not right. It is also okay to stop talking to someone if they try to steer the conversation somewhere you’re not comfortable. Ghosting is a boundary – you do not have to explain your boundaries to someone you don’t feel safe with. 

11.8 For Youth Living in Community 

If you’re living in an isolated community, there may be a few additional things to consider about life online. It may be common for everyone in the community to be your friend on Facebook, especially if your community doesn’t have cell phone service. There may only be a handful of other young people around, leaving you feeling a bit lonely and wanting to connect online. If someone sends you an uncomfortable message online, you may run into them at the store or down the road. 

Consider this example: someone from your community sends you a friend request on Facebook. They’re a few years older than you but you have some mutual friends. You can tell it’s them from their profile picture, their friend list, and some of their posts. You decide to accept their friend request – then they send you a message. You chat back and forth but feel a bit weird because this person is older. They start asking a few personal questions, and you no longer feel comfortable speaking with them.

It is okay to stop responding, tell them to stop messaging you, remove them from your friend’s list, or block them.

If you’re feeling anxious about seeing them in the community, think about a safe peer or adult that you would feel comfortable talking to about ways to keep yourself safe. There is more information about this discussed in Module 12.

You may also be feeling lonely due to friends leaving your community. 

It is common to go online to meet new people. While this can be a great source of connection and new friends, it is important to be aware of the potential risks. For more information on the luring and grooming process and how it shows up in online spaces, you can refer back to Modules 2 & 3. It may also be helpful to connect with a safe adult in your community to talk about how you’re feeling. There may be other youth who are feeling the same way. 

11.9 For Youth Who Leave The Community 

For youth who have grown up in a small community, it can be a huge change to leave. Some youth may leave and move to a different community within the region (ex: Natuashish to Sheshatshiu), or to a different community outside of the region (Hopedale to St. John’s). Youth may be leaving for a new opportunity (eg: school), for health reasons, for employment, or for safety reasons. 

It is hard to leave your community, especially when there is a connection to your family, friends, community members, culture, and land. Maintaining and creating connections is so important, especially if you don’t have a strong support system in your new spot. 

For youth who move to a new community in the region, there are some ways to start building on your support network.

Connecting with safe adults from your home community and seeing what they know about your new spot.

Looking into what resources are around, is there a community centre? Is there a youth centre? Does the school host any activities?

If you have a support/caregiver there with you, see if they can help you feel more comfortable in your new community.

Maintaining connection with your support network through social media, video chatting, and phone calls. Travel can be expensive, especially in Labrador, and it’s not always reliable in the winter months. Talking to people that love and care for you is important.

For youth who leave the region entirely, there may be a few more things to navigate in a bigger community. For example: 

• Food delivery services: Skip The Dishes, Door Dash – people you don’t know can drop food off at your address and know where you like to order from and how many people are there with you based on how much food you order. 
• Large shopping centres, public transportation, cabs, bars and restaurants. 
• A larger school or university, navigating the education system on your own. 
• Potentially having to live with roommates/people you don’t know. 
• Using dating apps/having more dating options. 

You will be coming into contact with a lot of people you don’t know while trying to learn your way around your new place. It can feel overwhelming, especially if you are trying to do it on your own. 

When you’re feeling isolated, it may feel normal to seek out connections and not pay as much attention to red flags or weird behaviours. There has to be an important balance in making new friends and keeping yourself safe. 

11.10 Youth in Care 

For youth who are taken into the care of the local child protection (Children, Seniors, and Social Development – CSSD), they could be moved to a care placement within their own communities or anywhere else in the province. Maintaining connections is crucial for youth in care – they are going through a huge change and need secure, safe people to fall back on. 

When a youth is taken into care, they may be placed in: 

• A foster home with a foster family. 
• A group home with other children/youth and group home staff. 
• An independent living arrangement (ILA) for youth over 16. 

Life online can vary greatly for youth in care. Depending on their living circumstances, youth may have to share a device, have different rules around when they can access the internet, or may have no guidance when it comes to time online. A big benefit to youth having technology is that they can continue to connect with safe peers and adults from their care placements. However, depending on the boundaries of family and caregivers, folks from the youth’s home community may try to connect with them around the youth being in care and the ongoing child protection investigation. 

For youth, it is important to remember that you do not have to answer any messages you don’t feel comfortable with. It can be difficult to have a caregiver on social media when you are in care, and you are allowed to have boundaries around who is able to connect with you. Remember that whatever happened is not your fault. If you are feeling lonely or upset, try and identify safe peers and adults whom you feel comfortable speaking with – you don’t have to deal with this on your own.