Dent Middle School gets a visit from Google - "You are What You Share"

Google visited Dent Middle School last Friday to kick off it's "You are What You Share" Campaign. The sixth graders were invited to learn about how to keep themselves safe online brought to them by Google Good to Know

“We are truly honored Google has chosen Dent Middle School as a site to kick off its digital literacy campaign. This campaign coincides perfectly with our District’s efforts of not only increasing student engagement and achievement through the use of technology but also reinforces our commitment to ensuring students are equipped with the knowledge, tools and strategies needed to use social media responsibly,” said Principal Dr. Randall Gary.


The hour long assembly covered five tips students need to be aware of stay safe online.
1. Think before you share 
Any blog post, status update, picture uploaded, etc affects not only your online life but your offline life. Items can be forwarded via email; Copied: a text or image can be easily copied by taking a screenshot and sending it to more people. Anything you share can be found. Just because you deleted the original place it was shared doesn't mean copies are deleted. There are over 2.4 billion people online around world that have the potential of seeing things you share that equals 29,814 full Williams Brice Stadiums!

2. Protect your stuff 
Set your passwords with at least 8 characters. Mix letters, numbers, and special characters. Have a different password for every site. The most common used passwords , which are also weak passwords are hello, 12345, and password.

How do you remember your password? Think of a favorite song, memory, or person and create a password around it. Google's motto is 'Don't be evil.' This can be made in to a password by creating a mix of letter and numbers, D0ntbe3vil. Of course a great way to stay safe is to not share your passwords!

3. Know and use your settings
Be sure to lock your devices and sign out of sites you use on computer when you are finished.

4. Avoid scams  
Understand what phishing is. "Phishing is the act of attempting to acquire information such as usernames,passwords, and credit card details (and sometimes, indirectly, money) by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Be wary of any emails that promise fortune for responding or clicking on links to see if you are a winner.

5. Stay positive 
How do you stay positive? Report things that are not appropriate online. Always respond to posts comment in positive manner. A challenge to everyone is to post at least one positive comment a day.