Mobiles

It's a good idea to only give your number out to friends who you know in the real world. If your mobile number is given to people that you don’t know, they may hassle you. This is why it’s also best not to put your number on your profile of your social networking site (like Bebo, MySpace and Facebook).

Whilst having a camera phone is cool and really useful, be careful if you share your photos with others. Pictures can be changed or shared around, so think about what the image is and who you are sending it to, before you press send. Once it’s out there it’s out there forever!

Bluetoothing is a quick and easy way of sharing stuff like photos, files and music. It’s important to be aware that unless you lock your Bluetooth, anyone in the area can access things in your phone, like your contacts. If you don’t want to share this information with strangers (why would you?!), then make sure you lock your Bluetooth.

It’s also a good idea to change your password from the default setting of 0000 so people can’t guess it. Locking your Bluetooth can help reduce the risk of getting viruses or spam to your mobile.

If you are receiving unwanted or insulting texts, you can contact your service provider.

If you think that you are being targeted by other people, and they are upsetting you, have a look at the cyberbullying section of this site.

The worrying thing about the social networking using GPS technology, is that your contacts will be on a map, showing exactly where they are. If you can see them, your contacts can also see where you are too. Quite scary if you have contacts on your profile that you don’t know or don’t trust. If you do want to use these sort of apps, you need to remember to use your privacy settings and remove anyone you don’t know or don’t trust, from your contacts.