Using Technology Responsibly Best Practices for Safe and Savvy Technology Use

Take Common-Sense Precautions

• Check and customize your security and privacy settings
• Never leave your technology unattended
• Always remember to log out of accounts on shared or public computers
• Don’t open, download, or click on anything that looks even remotely suspicious
• Back up your data often and store it securely

Share Safely on Social Media

• Consider limiting others’ access to your social networking profiles
• Don’t rely solely on privacy settings to protect your information
• Make decisions about what to share (and what not to share) with a level head
• Learn to evaluate your social media presence with a critical eye

Be a Good Cyber-Citizen

• Good citizenship
• Becoming well-informed and educated
• Respecting legitimate authority
• Being involved and engaged to promote the welfare of the community and people within it
• Treating your environment, yourself, and others with respect and helping those who need support as you are able
• Good citizenship also applies to the global community as accessed through the internet

Good Cyber-Citizenship

• Understand your potential to impact others through your online actions
• Respect laws and rules in cyberspace as you would in everyday life, including intellectual property rights
• Treat others in the online community with respect
• If you wouldn’t say or do it in person, don’t say or do it online
• The “Golden Rule” of social networking: Post about others only as they would post about themselves
• Consider your motives for posting about others

The Bottom Line for Using Technology Responsibly

THINK…!

• …before you post
• …before you act

Ask yourself:

• What are the risks?
• Why am I doing this?
• Would I want ________ to see this?
• Do these actions/words portray me as I want to be perceived by others?