Anyone else worried about how much kids are sharing online - even without realising it?

[CristHoney]

I had a bit of a wake-up moment recently watching my son on a game call with his online friends. He was casually giving out all sorts of info - where she lives, which park they hang out in, what games he’s playing, and when. Totally innocent in his mind, but it hit me how easy it is for kids to overshare without even knowing it’s risky.

I’m curious—how do other parents talk to their kids about this? Do you have rules about what’s OK to share in chats, games, or group messages?
And do you think schools are doing enough to teach them about digital boundaries?

Would love to hear how you’re handling this. I feel like it’s one of those areas that doesn’t get enough attention—until something goes wrong.

Adults do it too.

Absolutely—you're right. Adults definitely overshare too, sometimes without thinking. But I guess that’s part of the issue, isn’t it?
If we struggle to draw those boundaries ourselves, how do we help kids learn what’s safe to share before it becomes a habit? Especially when their online world feels so normal to them from such a young age.

Who are they playing with though? If it's a group of people from their class at school then fine, but otherwise are these "online friends" literally randoms, in which case why are they talking to them, at what age? They could be anyone.

We had an online safety talk with our DD as she’s a gamer too. We explained that unless she knows the person who she is gaming with the she mustn’t give out any personal information and why.

We talked about people pretending to be something they are not on the internet, about phishing, scammers and grooming. We explained that the supposed 10 year old they were gaming with could well be a creepy old guy who was up to no good.

You need to keep it age appropriate but give enough information to explain why internet safety is so important.

We also explained that any personal information or photos that you put online will be out there forever and to immediately talk to us if anyone asked her for anything she was uncomfortably with like photos, meet-ups or personal information.

This was a few years ago, nowadays I would also talk about cyber extortion especially with a son.

We have very strict rules around online gaming. My kids (older primary, early comp age) can only communicate directly with people they know in person and with a parents permission. Their usernames have to be anonymised and nowhere near their real names, and they aren't allowed to give away anything such as location, schools, names, family etc in public spaces for eg public minecraft servers. They are also only allowed on public servers if they are specifically for a minecraft-run event. All tech use is supervised in public spaces in the house too.

That’s such an important point—and one I think a lot of us underestimate. It’s easy to assume our kids are only talking to classmates, but in games and apps with open chat features, that line can blur fast.

And even if it starts with school friends, sometimes friends-of-friends or total strangers can sneak into the conversation. I guess the real challenge is teaching kids not just who they talk to—but how much they reveal, and when to pull back.

Do you think certain platforms are better or worse for this? I sometimes feel like even the ones aimed at younger kids don’t do enough to help them understand the risks.

You discuss it with them, like you're doing here, obviously. Unless you think it will spoil their innocence or they're too stupid to understand, in which case why let them online at all.