Lesson video

Hi, my name is Mr. Gee, and today I'm going to be teaching you for the RSHE lesson on curating our timeline.

This is part of the internet safety and harms unit, where we look at online relationships and harmful behaviour.

In this lesson, we will learn about how to ensure our timeline is responsible.

We will look at how inappropriate content on a timeline can become a problem, and how it can impact your relationships, and your futures as well.

If this is a sensitive topic for you, we recommend checking with a trusted adult before starting the lesson, whether this is at home or at school.

Let's get started.

So all you will need in today's lesson is either your exercise book, a piece of paper, and a pen.

Let's get cracking.

So to begin with, if you complete the intro quiz, that would be fantastic.

I'll be able to see your responses.

And this will look at what we've done in previous lessons, as well as looking at what we're going to do today.

We will look at what our digital footprint is.

We looked at this in a previous lesson, but we're going to look at it in a bit more depth and recap of what we've learned before.

So we're going to control what we talk about, controlling what we see on social media.

So much of what we see on social media is controlled by algorithms. And we've got to try and see how we can portray that and make that better.

We're going to see what is an unhealthy influence on social media and how that can impact you.

We need to look at how you can control what you see.

And then we will complete an exit quiz to see what we've learned today and assess your understanding.

So the keywords in today's lesson are as follows.

Curating, this isn't a word you'd necessarily would have heard before, and it is where someone introduces something new.

So by curating your timeline, you are setting it up in a new fashion.

Digital footprint, is the online trail you leave behind from internet activity.

So people can see this, so you need to ensure that your digital footprint that you've left is responsible and one you are happy with.

And privacy is a keyword.

I would imagine you all know what privacy would be, but just to clarify, it is stopping people from seeing everything of yours.

So in real life, we have privacy in real life situations, so you need to ensure that your privacy settings and private things that you do online, remain behind closed doors if they need to.

The digital footprint, so just like we've got an image there, footprints in the sand, your online work, your online movement, leaves a footprint behind.

So I want you to have a bit of a think.

So we all spend time online these days, especially, during the recent COVID-19 pandemic, and we have numerous accounts.

So I want you to answer these four questions.

Where have you left a legacy online? That can be anything.

Was the content you left appropriate? Think about a time when you may have posted something inappropriate, if you have.

Is there anything you need to do to change the content you have left behind? And what would you do again differently if you were online again? So I want you to pause the video and answer those questions.

They're four self-reflective questions that I want you to think about.

Pause the video, and we'll come back to this in a minute.

How can you leave a positive digital footprint? So we've looked at those four previous questions.

The whole point of those were so you can reflect and think, "Hang on a minute.

I may need to go back and look at my social media and see if everything I've left is appropriate." So as it says there, leaving a positive legacy of yourself online is really important, as it could be there forever.

It is important to think about what you post.

So there's three things I want you to take away.

Think about who you interact with and why.

Would you talk to them normally, if you met them in the street, okay? Why are you talking to those people? Is it appropriate? What you share and download.

Is it appropriate? Is it within the law? Should you really be sharing something that could offend other people.

And, generally, how you behave online.

So we've looked in previous lessons at things like trolling, okay? Are you trolling people? Is that how you would want to be felt or behaved by other people? Would you want that behaviour to come your way? So you need to think about that.

Is your behaviour appropriate? Quick question, and I'm not sure if everyone will know the answer to this.

When you post a picture on social media, the social media company owns it.

Is it true or false? Just give you a few seconds just to think about the answer.

Well, the answer is true.

Whenever you sign up to social media sites, there's a small print, there is an acceptance disclaimer at the start, okay? So there is a statement that you have to sign or accept.

And within that, in loads of small print, it will say that anything you post on their platform will become their property.

So once you post a picture on a social media website, it is no longer yours, it is theirs as well.

So how can we control what we see on social media? As it says there, social media companies use computer programmes called algorithms to personalise your feed.

The reason they do that, let's say you like football and you watch a lot of videos on football.

They will see that you like football and they will keep pumping out more videos based on your interests, likes, and interactions.

And the whole point in doing that is to get you to come back to their platform.

So for example, if you like some female singer, okay? And she is of a specific genre of music, they will keep posting similar singers to that one that you like.

And the whole point of that is to try and get you to come back.

Because you think, "Ah, that's really good, I've gone on there.

I've watched that video." And there'll be one that comes up, and it means you don't have to think and it posts stuff that you like.

It is important to know this, as it may think about how you interact on social media with other people and organisations.

So if there is something that appears that you don't like, and you click on it, it may start populating your feed with things that you don't necessarily like.

So it is all based around computer algorithms. So I want you, in a minute, just to think about how you can control what appears on your feeds.

In order to stop inappropriate and potentially harmful influences appearing on our timeline, what can we do? So I want you to create a list of what you could do to make sure your social media feed is appropriate without harmful influences.

Think about who you are friends with online, any accounts that you follow, and privacy settings.

So stop the video, and have a think about what can you do to ensure that appropriate content you can control what appears on your feed.

Pause the video.

Well, here's some questions that I came up with which I think you should think about.

So do you know all the people you follow? So some of the people you follow, okay, they may be famous.

Sometimes following famous people is not a problem at all.

But are there random people that you follow that you're not friends with? Are they posting positive content? So if they're just posting negative content all the time, it can become a bit draining.

And also is it appropriate? What you don't want is an employer looking to see who you are following in a few years time, and you are following someone who's highly offensive, and they will tarnish you.

They will think that you are associated with that person.

Is someone tagging you in stuff that is inappropriate? If they are, you may even need to defriend or unfollow that person, or adjust your settings so that person can't tag you in on things anymore.

Because what you don't want is someone tagging you on inappropriate content.

And like I said, it leaves that digital footprint.

Are that person's beliefs your beliefs? And could they be offensive to other people? So, like I said, if you are being tagged in things that aren't necessarily your belief, that is going to cause an issue, because people will look through your social media and they will think that maybe you are associated with someone who's being offensive.

And can people see personal information of yours? So what you don't want people to do is see personal information, and then, obviously, be in a position to defraud you or become part of identity theft.

So it is really important how you control what appears on your newsfeed.

So we're going to talk now about recognising unhealthy influences on social media.

So true or false? There are people out there who are paid to influence you on social media.

Do you think that's true or false? I'll give me a few seconds to think about that and answer the question.

Well, the answer is obviously true, okay? So social media is full of people called influencers, who are paid to promote products and services.

So I think what we need to look at is, are these people necessarily genuine? So they are paid to advertise a service, political opinion, anything else where something could be advertised.

So I've listed a few there.

These can include clothes, food, beauty products, cars, it could be to advertise a football team.

It could be anything.

And these people are paid money to go onto Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and say, "I'm wearing these fantastic clothes from this organisation." Or, "I've come to this restaurant and the food is fantastic." And, obviously, there are lots of people that will follow them.

Quite often, they are famous people and they are paid a small sum of money just to do a quick video.

They post it on their Instagram and then, obviously, it reaches hundreds of thousands of people.

So look at the influences below.

I want you to pause the video in a minute.

How could they possibly be unhealthy? So a friend has told you to follow an account which has an extreme political view.

Scenario two, you are following a social media influencer who is always posting pictures of themselves looking to lose weight, even though they are slim already.

And then the third scenario, a friend you follow keeps reposting videos of people drinking heavily at a party.

So these aren't just looking at social media influencers, they are looking at a couple of friends, and then the second scenario is looking at social media influencers.

I want you to answer the question.

I want you to pause the video shortly.

How could these be unhealthy? Pause the video, and we will come back and discuss them very shortly.

I've listed below how they could possibly be unhealthy.

So scenario one, a friend has told you to follow an account which has an extreme political view.

So you may not agree with their view.

And you may feel that that friend is pressuring you to agreeing with it.

Only follow something that you believe in.

Just because your friend believes in something, doesn't necessarily mean that you should have the same view.

And social media has that power sometimes.

There are lots of political influencers on there.

So please, just be aware that you need to follow what you believe in.

You are following a social media influencer, scenario two, who is always posting pictures of themselves looking to lose weight, even though they look slim already.

So it may portray the image of losing weight when slim is normal.

Now if you are slim already, you probably don't want to lose any more weight.

But what this social media influencer probably is trying to do, they may be being paid to advertise a certain product.

So just be aware that they are not always genuine.

And scenario three, a friend you follow keeps reposting videos of people drinking heavily underage at a party.

Is this appropriate? No, but it also it may influence people that are following that person who's drinking to drink heavily underage as well.

So we need to think about how these social media accounts can be a negative influence, and do you want to follow them? Do you want to be that way? I hope you've enjoyed today's lesson.

What I'd like you to do, please share your work with Oak National on Twitter, with the handle @OakNational with the hash tag #LearnWithOak.

Thanks for joining us today.

I'll speak to you soon, bye for now.