My son is 15 and I kept telling myself he was responsible enough to figure things out. He uses social media, plays online games, chats with friends across three different platforms. I trusted him. What I had not done was sit down and talk with him about what information those platforms collect and what happens when he shares his location or real name in places he does not think twice about.
What prompted the conversation
He mentioned offhand that someone in a gaming group had figured out what city he lived in from things he had posted across different accounts. Nothing bad happened. But it rattled him, and it rattled me. Separately, each post seemed harmless. Together, they painted a clear picture of where he was and what school he attended.
What we actually talked about
We went through his accounts one by one. We checked privacy settings on Instagram, Discord, and Steam. We turned off location data on his phone for apps that had no reason to need it. We talked about what cross-referencing means: how a username used in two places can connect information from both.
He asked questions I did not have full answers to, which was fine. We looked things up together. That part mattered more than any answer I could have given him, because it showed him how to think through a problem rather than just follow a rule.
What shifted afterward
He started using a different username on new platforms and stopped posting location-specific photos in real time. Small changes, but ones he made on his own because he understood the reason behind them.