Avoiding Strangers, Drugs, and Dangerous Situations Online

We live in a digital world and that opens up some amazing opportunities for students. Unfortunately, it also comes with some risks, including the potential of running into strangers, drugs, and dangerous situations online. 

Protecting kids online is top priority for parents and educators. Setting well thought out internet safety rules for kids can help, but kids and teens also need to understand why it is important for them to avoid certain behaviors and interactions online. This guide for parents, students, and educators will help teens learn how to spot red flags online so they can avoid dangerous situations.

Educators and parents: Guide your students' reflection and discussion with this student worksheet. (Log in to your Google account and select File-->Make a Copy)

Talking to Strangers Online (Student Video)

Questions to prompt discussion with students:

Elementary School Topic: Safety and Friendships

• A girl in the video said that if a friend wanted to meet someone in person that they only knew online, she would tell them that was a bad idea. What would you tell your friend?

Middle School Topic: Know Who You’re Talking To

• How can you tell if people are who they say they are online?

High School Topic: Strangers Who Pose as Students

• If someone claims online to be a student at another school, how can you verify they are who they say they are?

Parents and Teachers: View the full VIP Facilitation Guide Here

Using Social Media in a Safe and Positive Way (Student Video)

Questions to prompt discussion with students:

Elementary School Topic: Positive Influences

• If you have a unique interest or a skill you want to learn, where could you look online to find out more about it?

Middle School Topic: Common Interests

• What is something you really care about where you might enjoy joining an online group of others who share that interest?

High School Topic: Choosing Your Online Friends

• How would your social media look different if you only followed / friended / connected with people whose values you share and who make you feel good about yourself?

Parents and Teachers: View the full VIP Facilitation Guide Here

Staying Safe Online by Balancing Screen Time (Student Video)

Questions to prompt discussion with students:

Elementary School Topic: Seeking Help From Adults

• How do you know when to alert an adult to something you’ve seen or experienced online?

Middle School Topic: Using the Tools

• What if any apps have you tried to limit screen time, especially when you really need to focus?

High School Topic: Tools for Finding Balance

• What apps or settings do you know about that can help you remember to put down your phone when you need to focus on other things?

Parents and Teachers: View the full VIP Facilitation Guide Here

Avoiding Strangers and Dangerous Situations Online (Student, Parent, and Educator Video)

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Questions to prompt discussion with students:

Elementary School Topic: Knowing Your Friends

• What should you do when someone you’ve never met sends you a friend request or another request to connect?

Middle School Topic: Recognizing Coercion

• How can you identify subtle forms of manipulation that may be used by online predators to gain control over others?

High School Topic: Please Go Away

• How do you deal with a stranger who keeps trying to engage you online even though you don’t feel comfortable?

Parents and Teachers: View the full VIP Facilitation Guide Here

What do online predators not want you to know?

• Predators are really good at acting like someone you can be friends with
• You may have already interacted with a predator and not known it
• Everyone needs affection, belonging, and recognition and predators work to pretend to meet those needs in order to draw their victims in‍

‍Online predators have a plan to build trust

• Predators will try and follow 100 students at a single school and they will go through your entire friend list to add your friends online
• About 25% of those students will accept the random friend request, because the predator has fake photos that look like a teen who could go to your school
• Predators do this so you have at least 5-15 friends in common, making it easier to trust them

The Real Truth on Drugs (Student, Parent, and Educator Video)

Questions to prompt discussion with students:

Elementary School Topic: Trusted Sources

• Why is it safer to get medicine from a doctor or a licensed pharmacist rather than buying it from unknown sources?

Middle School Topic: Trusted Adults

• Who can you talk to if you have questions or concerns about medicine and its safety?

High School Topic: Making Safe Choices

• What are some strategies you can use to make sure the medicine you are taking is safe?

Parents and Teachers: View the full VIP Facilitation Guide Here

Avoiding Strangers Online (Expert Video for Parents, Students, and Educators)

Questions to prompt discussion with students:

Elementary School Topic: Knowing Your Friends

• What should you do when someone you’ve never met sends you a friend request or another request to connect?

Middle School Topic: Recognizing Coercion

• How can you identify subtle forms of manipulation that may be used by online predators to gain control over others?

High School Topic: Please Go Away

• How do you deal with a stranger who keeps trying to engage you online even though you don’t feel comfortable?

Parents and Teachers: View the full VIP Facilitation Guide Here

Avoiding Dangerous Situations Online (Expert Video for Parents, Students, and Educators)

Questions to prompt discussion with students:

Elementary School Topic: Personal Information

• What can you do if someone online asks for personal information or inappropriate photos?

Middle School Topic: Privacy Protection

• What steps can you take to safeguard private information on social media?

High School Topic: Going in Ghost Mode

• What do you know about Snap Map, and how can you use it safely?

Parents and Teachers: View the full VIP Facilitation Guide Here

Avoiding Drugs Online (Expert Video for Parents, Students, and Educators)

Questions to prompt discussion with students:

Elementary School Topic: Trusted Adults

• Who are some adults you feel comfortable talking to if you see something that looks wrong online?

Middle School Topic: Peer Influence

• The video talked about problems with vaping. What are some risks associated with vaping?

High School Topic: Drugs Online

• What are the risks of buying drugs—including prescription drugs that weren’t prescribed for you by a real doctor—online?

Parents and Teachers: View the full VIP Facilitation Guide Here

How do online predators trick students? 

Predators first work on building trust

• Compliments: They will give compliments to boost your self-esteem, for example, "You're so smart and beautiful."
• Shared Interests: Predators will claim to have the same interests as you. "I love that band too!"
• Building Trust: Predators will often start by being friendly and supportive. They might say, "I'm here to listen and help you."
• Impersonation: Some may pose as someone you already know, like a student at your school or another school down the street, in order to build trust, for example:  "I'm [Name] from your school. And we have a lot of friends in common.”

Once predators build trust they work to make you feel bonded to them

• Creating Secrecy: They may encourage secrecy, saying, "Let's keep this conversation just between us. Go create a new username or account on _____ app so we can chat there."
• ~Predators want to have an open line of communication without your friends or parents knowing what that new account is
• Isolation: Predators might attempt to isolate you from friends and family, saying things like, "They don't understand you like I do."
• ~This makes you feel like you are getting affection, belonging, and recognition
• Sympathy and Empathy: They'll pretend to understand your problems and offer sympathy, saying, "I'm here for you, no matter what."
• Offering Gifts or Favors: Predators may offer gifts or favors online or offline. "I can buy you that game you've been wanting."
• ~Teens get a rush from free things and this is designed to get your attention and have you look to the predator as a source of getting your needs met
• Flirting: Predators may engage in online flirting to make the student feel special and desired

Predators escalate and phish for additional information as you get more comfortable with them

• Requesting Personal Information: They may ask for phone numbers, addresses, or school details
• Requesting Photos: Predators will often request photos, starting innocently but gradually becoming more explicit
• Gradual Escalation: They'll progressively steer the conversation toward more personal and inappropriate topics or requests

Once they have what they want, predators will flip on you

• Manipulating Boundaries: They might push boundaries, saying, "Trust me, it's normal for friends to do this."
• Emotional Manipulation: They may use guilt or threats to manipulate you. "If you don't do this for me, I'll tell everyone about our conversations and share them with your family and friends."
• Threats and Blackmail: If you begin to resist or pull away, some predators resort to threats or blackmail, such as sharing private information or photos they've already received

How students can protect themselves from predators

• Guard Your Privacy: Your personal information is yours; keep it that way
• Friend Requests Matter: Know who's adding you; not all connections are real
• Screenshots for Safety: Snap proof if someone's crossing boundaries; share with a trusted adult
• Block and Report: Don't hold back; use 'block' and 'report' when needed
• Spot Red Flags: Trust your instincts; and stay skeptical online of anything that seems too good to be true

Avoiding fentanyl and other drugs online

• Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid drug used for pain relief by doctors but it is only safe when used under a doctor’s care
• It’s often used as a filler in drugs sold on Snapchat & other apps (Adderall, Xanax, Oxycodone) and it can be deadly
• Fake pills often contain fentanyl and are more lethal than ever before

Fake pills can be lethal

• Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin
• People who create fake pills sometimes use fentanyl as a filler
• It takes very little fentanyl to produce a “high” so drug dealers can use less of the other drugs in their pills 
• This makes it cheaper for them to make fake pills
• According the DEA, six out of every ten pills with fentanyl contain a potentially lethal dose (Source: DEA.gov)
• That means that any pill that doesn’t come directly from a pharmacy could kill you

Can you tell fake pills apart from real pills?

• Fake pills often contain fentanyl and it’s impossible to spot the differences between deadly fake pills and real pills
• The drug dealers can make the fake pills look exactly like real pills

How deadly is fentanyl?

• A minuscule amount of fentanyl - merely 2 milligrams, which is roughly equivalent to a few grains of salt - could potentially be lethal
• Many students think they can just break a pill in half, but fake pills may not be mixed evenly, so one fraction of a pill could be deadly
• Look at this image of the penny. That is a lethal dose of fentanyl

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What drug dealers don’t want you to know 

• Only an adult can get real medication from a real pharmacist or doctor at a pharmacy or doctor's office
• Most sellers can’t guarantee that the pills are fentanyl free
• They may claim that their pills are “clean” but that is often a lie
• It’s illegal to buy any pills without a prescription from a real doctor
• It’s also illegal to possess any pills that aren’t prescribed to you with your name on the bottle
• Every state is different: In California, here’s the law: 
• ~Unlawful possession of prescription drugs falls under “unlawful possession of a controlled substance” in California law, which is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in county jail and a fine of up to $1,000

Protecting students from drugs online

• Even if you are getting drugs from a close friend they may not know where those drugs came from
• Percocet, Oxycodone, Xanax, and Adderall are commonly sold online, often using emojis or coded names
• Any of these drugs can be fake pills and contain fentanyl
• Social media is often used to advertise and sell drugs
• If you have a smartphone and/or a social media account then a drug trafficker can find you

Just One Pill Can Kill (Video)   

Questions to prompt discussion with students:

Elementary School Topic: Peer Pressure

• What can you do if someone you know online tries to pressure you into talking about drugs or vaping?

Middle School Topic: Fake Pills

• How are students dying from fentanyl overdoses when they don’t even realize the pills they have contain fentanyl?

High School Topic: Tragic Outcomes

• The parents in the video who had lost children to fentanyl overdoses said their kids never knew they were taking fentanyl. How can that happen?

Parents and Teachers: View the full VIP Facilitation Guide Here

More resources for Parents, Students, & Educators 

• Drugs on Social Media: What Parents & Educators Need to Look Out For
• What is the Chroming Challenge: Understanding the Perils of Inhaling Toxic Chemicals
• TikTok Tranquilizer Challenge: What Parents & Educators Need to Know

Conclusion

Students are digital natives and between screen time at home and screen time at school, they often spend quite a bit of time online. Protecting kids online is more important today than ever before with the risk of online predators, online drug sales, and other dangerous situations that kids have the potential to be exposed to. The most important defense against these online risks is having an ongoing dialogue with students so they understand what red flags they should be looking out for and know what to do if they find themselves in an unsafe situation.

English Language Live Event Replay

Questions to prompt discussion with students:

Parents and Teachers: View the full VIP Facilitation Guide Here

Spanish Language Event Replay

Repetición de Evento en Vivo

District Leaders: Please do not share this in your community without written permission or a current school district license with SmartSocial.com. Please be sure to check in with us before sharing. Partner with SmartSocial here.

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Mandarin Chinese Event Replay

这是我们的普通话活动回放。

District Leaders: Please do not share this in your community without written permission or a current school district license with SmartSocial.com. Please be sure to check in with us before sharing. Partner with SmartSocial here.

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