The ripple effect of one small post online can have a lifechanging effect for someone, and that was a key point which really hit home for McCarthy Catholic College students Hannah Wakely and Cooper Holzigal on Wednesday.
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After sitting through the Optus' Digital Thumbprint Program, they came away preparing to change the way they think about social media.
"It's frightening to think that one small thing done online can have so many consequences for someone in their life," Cooper said.
"Use common sense, think before you speak, because you don't know what's going on in someone's personal lives. And it's not hard to help."
"I think every kid our age should sit through these presentations," Hannah added. "I learned that even the smallest things that happen online can have a really big impact in people's lives."
Isha Bassi, who presented the free in-school program, visited McCarthy Catholic College, Peel High School and Oxley High to deliver the crash course.
Ms Bassi said the Tamworth students had been attentive, receptive and engaged to the important issues not normally delivered in the school curriculum.
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"They were really lovely and super engaged, and I always love it when they have so many questions, they can be pretty mind blowing," she noted.
"It's very, very important to spread awareness about situations around cyber bullying and security, not being a bystander, and consent, because it's not something taught at school and unfortunately a lot of kids grow up without this knowledge and when they are faced with situations like this in the adult world they don't know how to deal with it."
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