Good judgment online
Protect privacy, check information, and treat people well in group chats.
Skill 6.4 · About 25 minutes to begin
A message can travel farther and last longer than you intended. Pause before posting and make your online behavior match how you want to treat people face to face.
Before you begin
Bring along
- Fictional scenario cards
- Practice partner
Support & boundaries
Use fictional situations and choose what you share. You may pass or speak privately with a trusted adult. Unsafe behavior or a serious concern needs adult support.
01 / Learn
Understand the skill
- A screenshot can outlive a disappearing message.
- Permission to take a photo is separate from permission to publish it.
- Group chats should not expose customer addresses, private conversations, or someone's personal difficulties.
02 / Practice
Try it, step by step
- 1
Review a fictional post for personal information, location clues, and other people's consent.
- 2
Before sharing a claim, find its original source and check the date and context.
- 3
Practice disagreeing with an idea without attacking the person.
- 4
For bullying or threats, avoid joining in, preserve appropriate evidence, and ask a trusted adult for help; use platform reporting tools.
- 5
Review privacy settings with a trusted adult and enable stronger account protection where available.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Post it only in the group chat.
- Treating a successful practice attempt as permission to skip the supervision or checks for a real task.
Your call
A funny screenshot includes a customer's address. What next?
03 / Demonstrate
Show what you can do
Use these prompts with a mentor. This practice checklist resets when you leave; record your overall stage below in the signed-in manual.
0 of 3 reviewed together
Mentor notes & sources
Help someone learn
- Agree on a small set of group-chat norms with the youth.
- Never project private messages or real account details during a lesson.
Start together, then let the learner take responsibility at an appropriate level. Offer a shorter task, a different role, or more practice time when useful. Review the demonstration criteria together; advanced practice never removes supervision requirements.
Reference shelf
Original program lessons informed by these references. Equipment manuals, current local rules, and qualified instruction govern technical practice.
- Search Institute: developmental relationships ↗
Care, support, challenge and youth agency
- FTC: how to avoid a scam ↗
Recognizing pressure and verifying requests
Edition updated 2026-09-28. Program learning material; not a professional qualification.
04 / Apply · In Action
Before you post
Review an invented trip post for privacy, consent, source accuracy, and location details. Rewrite it safely.
What success looks like
Explain what you removed or verified and why.
Talk it through
Who besides the intended audience could see this?
05 / Teach · Take it further
Lead a short discussion to agree on group-chat norms.