Why You Must Display Caution When Using YouTube

Are you a high school student who enjoys using YouTube?

  

You might not only enjoy watching videos on YouTube, but you 
may also like to make and share your own videos.  Even if you 
are in high school, you can do so with YouTube, as YouTube 
allows those thirteen and older to share their videos.  

While this can be fun to do, you need to display some caution 
when making your YouTube videos.  

Display caution when making your YouTube videos?  
If you are wondering why you need to do so, aside from the 
obvious safety concerns, you might be wondering why all the worry.  

What you may not realize is that your online content, including your 
YouTube videos, may be watched by those who are associated 
with your school.  

Those views may come from your friends, other classmates, or even 
school officials.  That is why it is extremely important that you 
thoroughly examine your YouTube video content and make sure 
that no harm can come to you later on.

When it comes to YouTube video content that you should avoid,
 particularly if you are a high school student, the most obvious 
is illegal activities.  

You do not want to have video of yourself or your friends drinking
underage, doing drugs, or committing another crime, no matter how 
minor it may seem.  As it was previously mentioned, you never really 
know who will come across your videos. 

With the way that high schools and gossip works today, if one of your 
classmates found a video of yours on YouTube it is likely that they 
wouldn’t keep that video to themselves; they will almost always 
share it with others that they know.

Another type of video content that you may want to avoid is content 
that is offensive to other students at your school. This type of 
content most commonly comes up in video blogs.  Many internet 
users use video blogs to vent their frustrations or talk about 
their day.  If you are a high school student, there is a good chance 
that you may want to discuss school, your friends, or your classmates.  

While this is more than possible to do, you will want to refrain from 
sounding too negative or even threatening.  Although you may just 
be joking, “I’m so mad I could kill her,” could be taken out of context 
by someone viewing your YouTube video, whether it is a video blog or not.

As it was previously mentioned, one of the many individuals who could 
end up viewing your YouTube videos are your classmates or even 
school officials.  While we would all like to believe that our classmates 
are cool, not all of them are.  

Should one of your classmates find a video on YouTube that they found 
offensive or poor in taste, they may report it to your school.  Speaking 
of your school, your school officials may even come across your 
YouTube videos, as many schools are now using the internet, namely 
social networking sites, to monitor their students and their activities. 

 Having illegal activities documented in your YouTube videos could 
spell trouble for you, in more ways than one.

When it comes to YouTube videos with illegal activities or threats 
documented in them, the consequences that you suffer, if any, will all 
depend on the school district in question.  It is not uncommon for school 
districts to suspend students that they find doing illegal activities, 
even if those activities were not committed on school properties.  

Should you participate in extra circular activities, including sports, 
you have find yourself suspended from all sports teams or other 
school sponsored organizations, temporarily or even permanently. 

 In serious situations, like where threats against other students have 
been documented, it is not uncommon for the authorities to be contacted.

As you can see, there are serious consequences to not thinking before
making and sharing your videos on YouTube.  All high school students, 
including you, are urged to think about your future, before using YouTube 
as a source of fun entertainment.