ok so THREAD FOR MINORS ONLINE, ESP THOSE UNDER 16 YEARS OLD

from someone who's been in online communities since I was ~12-13 & this is all from experience or things i've seen.

1. Stay away from the overly angry people. There's always one in every community, they don't really have an outlet so they use the community as one. They talk often but they're always angry about something.

2. Never send any nudes/lewds. I don't care if it's to another minor, just don't do it.

3. Try to use a nickname or a cover name, don't use your real name.

Also, don't use your real face as your profile picture, this makes it easier for others to see that you are a minor.

4. While figuring out your identity is a good thing, don't fall into a rabbit hole of all of these labels that there are, especially from tumblr and especially if it's related to anything sexual (ex: identifying as asexual, demisexual, etc).

4. Cont.
You are young, you are not supposed to be thinking about these kinds of things.

5. Don't follow and try to avoid the depression accounts (ex: sad quotes, s*icidal quotes, etc.) Having those accounts on your timeline will keep you in a bad mood and hurt your mental health even more.

6. Be wary of the people who insist you're very cute and compliment you all the time. While it may seem they have good intentions, it may not always be the truth.

7. Don't force yourself to be "older" than you are, ex: saying you've done things that a minor shouldn't be doing. I know you want to fit in but sometimes you can step back.

8. Stay away from the people, especially those over the age of 18, who insist on meeting you in person. While meeting online friends is a great thing, they may have other intentions.

9. If someone wants to speak with you on a different platform/app that's not the one you mainly use, try to avoid it. They're trying to hide something.

10. Trust your gut feeling about someone.

11. Don't tell anyone where you live (ex: your address).

Again, these are things I've seen or experienced. I am just a person but this is my advice.

12. Stay away from people who are MUCH older than you, ex: people twice your age, etc.