T I P S   O N   C Y B E R W E L L N E S S

1. Be astute in revealing personal information like your name, age, address or your mobile phone number.


2. Respect other users on the internet; do not use vulgarities, do not make fun of others and DO NOT be a cyberbully. (How would you feel if YOU were a victim of cyberbullying?)


3. If you do not feel comfortable after reading a certain message, tell your parents.


4. Respect people and they will respect you as well ! ^o^

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT
 

(1) Over 1 billion photos and 10 million videos are uploaded to Facebook each month. Images alone consume hard disk storage space as much as 25TB of storage space every week.
(2) Facebook promotes active discussion and sharing of thoughts between millions of users daily with the help of more than 45 million active user groups that exist on the site.
(3) Facebook acts as a free yet effective invitation partner for over 2.5 million events that are created every month.
(4) There are over 250 million registered users on Facebook of which 125 million login for at least once almost daily.

cYbeR WeLlNesS vALuEs

1) Be street-smart
-users must not reveal thier identity so that their lives will not be in danger.

2) Be Responsible & Respectful
-users should not use vulgarities if they do not want other people to use vulgarities too.

3) Achieve Balance
-do not publish posts that are racist.
-no cyber bullying is allowed.

4) Embrace Inspirational Use Of Internet
-use the internet correctly and do not use it to cite for unwanted stuff.

             DANGERS OF FACEBOOK!!!            

       

Danger 1:Whatever we post on Facebook is accessible by anyone.
Danger 2:People on Facebook may be using a false identity and we might not know. (There is no way to find out)

Danger 3:Once we upload pictures or videos, there is no way of permanently deleting it until the link is overwritten.

Danger 4:We cannot effectively control who looks at our information.

i n s p i r a t i o n a l  u s e 
      o f   f a c e b o o k
1. You could contact old friends and also meet up together.                     
2. You could communicate easily with your friends who are overseas.
3. You could also use facebook for organizing and announcements.
4. It can be used to chat with our friends and relatives online...FREE!        

CASE STUDIES

A 16-YEAR-OLD girl here created fake profiles on popular social networking sites MySpace and Facebook with a single-minded purpose: To befriend those she disliked in school.
Once the connections were made, the teen turned on her schoolmates, hurling nasty insults at them.
The bullying was reminiscent of a now infamous 2006 case where American teenager Megan Meier killed herself after being taunted online. In that case, the mother of a former friend created a phoney online profile to bully the girl.
According to psychologist Vanessa von Auer, the Singaporean girl was discovered by the school before her victims could suffer any deep emotional scars.
Psychologists, counsellors and teachers, however, are worried that the methods of Singaporean cyber bullies have morphed into something more vicious than before.
A 2006 survey found that a quarter of 3,488 Singaporean students polled had been victimised by cyber bullies.
Traditionally, these bullies target victims through e-mail messages or forum postings.
Now, experts say, the bullying has turned 'viral'.
The rising popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, YouTube videos as well as multi-media messages has made the humiliation of the victims more widespread and more immediate than ever.
'The new breed of bullies is narcissist. They treat the Internet as their stage, with an instant audience of thousands - or even millions,' said Dr Carol Balhetchet, the director of youth services at the Singapore Children's Society.
'It just takes one to get it going, and it's like wildfire. Online, users can see what others are doing, even if they're half a continent away,' said Dr Balhetchet.
Psychologists are worried about the effects of cyber bullying and how the attacks may be escalating in frequency and intensity.
'Say something happens to a child at school, and when they get home, they realise that everyone is talking about it on MSN. People are spreading it like wildfire,' said therapist Katy Harris.
Referring to a case last month where an American teenager committed suicide live via a webcam in front of netizens, some of whom had egged him on, she added: 'The ante has been upped.'
In Singapore, students commonly band together in blogs and social networks to intimidate victims, say teachers and school counsellors.
Now, many in the education field are taking steps to put an end to that.
Staff from Ngee Ann Polytechnic monitor blogs and social networks with tip-offs from their students.
At a secondary school in the west, teachers picked up on the trend when the victims turned to school counsellors.
'Most of them are cases of students who cyber bully others through blogs, naming their victims, then telling the whole school to read their blogs,' said one teacher, who did not want to be named.
A recent report from the government-sanctioned Advisory Council on the Impact of New Media on Society (Aims) listed cyber bullying among teenagers as a concern.
And in focus groups, teachers here spoke of how they had witnessed the effects of cyber bullying on their students.
One related how a group of boys bullied a girl and uploaded the video online. The girl was traumatised and faced problems getting along with the boys after that, even crying in class.
Aims recommended that an annual fund and agency be set up for the protection of minors. They would, among other things, promote cyber safety.

• Adapted from:http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_314573.html
• All images were taken from:http://images.google.com.sg/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi