Just recently, Officer Douglas from the Toronto Police delivered a timely talk to our middle school students about social media – the predominant tool being Facebook – where you post and share messages and images.  An interesting fact quickly spreading is that Facebook collects and owns all of the information you post.

When you read and/or post online, you are usually in a safe place: your classroom, office, kitchen, living room, bedroom or the passenger seat of a car. You are usually using your own laptop or smartphone. The setting is one of comfort and security. There are physical walls around you to keep out harm; there are firewalls around your electronic device to keep out intruders. In this comfort zone, you are more likely to submit personal information about yourself (or others) online. However, as soon as you press ‘send,post or submit’, these walls disappear. Poof!

The images and/or words that you just transmitted entered cyberspace where there are no walls, where anyone and everyone can see and hear everything that is online, including the police. Even if you delete it, it’s too late; a copy was made the instant you pressed ‘send, post or submit’.

So before the ‘walls disappear’, think twice about what you post. Will you be worried about the images you‘re uploading? Will you be worried about the text that you‘re about to put out there? If yes, hit delete.

Stacy Marcynuk
Director of IT, Curriculum
Kingsway College School