We are aware that there are some issues between senior students online, mainly through social media platforms. Social media can be a great way to keep in touch with friends and it’s important to make sure your experience is fun and positive.
Here are some tips to help keep it positive.
1. Choose how and when you chat
Group chats are a good way to talk with close friends but being available 24/7 can be stressful.
• Take a break from the conversation by muting notifications on WhatsApp or choosing one of the privacy settings on Snapchat.
• Change your status and location on WhatsApp to private, so your friends don’t always know what you’re doing and expect you to chat.
2. Think about the impact your story might have
Sharing online is a great way to express yourself but posting personal or confronting content can hurt you and others.
• Think about who will see your story and whether they will respect your post – especially if it contains personal information, like how you are feeling. You can change your settings to close friends only on Instagram for example, to control who sees the information.
• When you live stream and share content like an Instagram Reel, work out what you might do if people respond in a negative way. Consider what could happen if the content is reposted.
• If you think your content might upset or hurt other people, warn them and suggest they scroll past it.
• If you are worried your post might hurt others, show it to a trusted person before you share it and see what they think.
3. Choose what appears in your feed
Scrolling through YouTube or Tik Tok can be a great way to relieve stress and even learn new skills, but some material could make you feel uncomfortable.
• Be aware of the type of content that might upset you. For example, most apps and social media sites ban content glorifying eating disorders, self-harm and suicide.
• Limit the amount of distressing content that you see. You can hide content on Snapchat or flag videos as not interested on Tik Tok to stop stories appearing in your feed.
• Use The eSafety Guide to help you block or report users. You can use the mute feature on Instagram or select unfollow on Tik Tok to stop users you don’t like coming up in your feed.
4. Keep it positive
Use the resources on social networks to help you and others maintain a healthy state of mind.
• Look out for safety and wellbeing tips. Tik Tok tips offers technical and mental health advice for staying safe and Snapchat provides wellbeing support.
• Check how much time you spend looking at negative news or ‘doomscrolling’. Try swapping your news time for more positive content instead.
• Check-in with your friends and send a direct message to them if they seem upset. Follow the advice on the R U OK? website to start the chat.
For advice on how to report abuse please see: https://www.esafety.gov.au/report