Go Beyond Default Privacy Settings
Teens are often told to “be careful online,” but rarely shown how. In a world where everything from DMs to phone numbers can be scraped, hacked or screenshotted, knowing how to lock down an account is a form of digital self-respect. It does not need to be preachy or paranoid.
A good place to start is with the settings themselves. Most platforms default to public, so help your teen take control by:
- Setting their profiles to private
- Turning off location sharing
- Disabling auto-tagging
- Removing their phone number and email from public view
Your teen decides what others see, not the app.
Build Strong Passwords and Turn On 2FA
Encourage your teen to make every password:
- At least 12 characters long
- Unique, and never reused
- Hard to guess, so no pet names or birthdates
Then help them add two-factor authentication (2FA). It is a simple setting that sends a code to their phone or an app, and it adds an extra layer of protection.
Review Apps and Logins Every Month or Two
Every one to two months, encourage your teen to check three things:
- Which third-party apps have access to their social accounts
- Which devices are currently logged in
- Whether there are any unknown logins, which they should log out immediately
Making this a regular routine, rather than a one-off, keeps it from feeling like a big deal.
Help Your Teen Think Before Sharing
Being selective about what they share is one of the simplest ways for your teen to protect themselves. Encourage them to pause and ask a few questions before posting or filling out a profile. If the answer to any of them is no, the better choice is not to post it.
“Do I really need my school listed on my profile? Is this selfie something I’d want strangers to see? Am I okay with this being shared outside my friend group?”
Make Checking Settings a Habit
Each new app brings new risks. Before posting anything on a new app, your teen can check three places:
- Settings → Privacy
- Settings → Security
- Settings → Location
Encourage them to take five minutes to learn the settings before uploading anything.
Next time your teen joins a new app, sit down together and spend five minutes going through its Privacy, Security and Location settings before they post anything.
Being private is not paranoid, it is smart. It does not mean hiding who they are. It means your teen deciding which parts of their life belong to them alone.