The Tech Wise Interactive Learning Hub
SESSION 4
Safer Browsing & Social Media
About The Resource
Welcome to the Tech Wise Interactive Learning Hub, a hands-on extension of the Tech Wise six-part cybersafety series. This page offers practical H5P activities designed to help older adults strengthen their digital safety skills through real-world scenarios and guided practice.
Here, you will explore key topics covered in the Tech Wise program, such as recognizing scams, protecting personal information, using strong passwords, and browsing safely online. Each activity helps you apply what you’ve learned in a simple, interactive way using your own device.
Whether you’re new to technology or looking to build confidence online, this resource gives you a safe space to learn, test your knowledge, and become #UnHackable.
Activity Instructions
When you see the “On Your Device” icon in the presentation slide, scroll to the corresponding activity number to the presentation slide and complete the activity. Happy learning!
Disclaimer
Device and platform specific instructions are general and may vary slightly depending on version/model.
Safe Usage Of Voice Assistants
To ensure you are safely using voice assistants. Follow the device-specific instructions below. Device-specific guidance helps you manage permissions, review and delete voice recordings, and set up security features correctly, reducing risks such as unauthorized access, identity theft, data leaks, and unwanted listening.
The convenience of AI
Navigate to chatgpt.com
Ask AI to do something helpful:
- Ask for a recipe using ingredients you already have.
- Ask it to rewrite a long message into a short text.
- Ask it to explain a scam warning in simple language.
- Ask what you should wear to correspond with the weather tomorrow.
Was this easier than searching online? Would this save you time in real life?
Tools To Prevent Misinformation
- Navigate to https://www.snopes.com/.
- Copy some of the phrases below, and search it in the search bar.
- “Herbal supplements are always safe because they’re natural”.
- “You can’t spoil or decline your ballot in a Canadian federal election.”
- Read the fact-check result. What did they find? True, false, or mixed?
AI Slop – Real or fake?
- Look at each picture on the screen.
- Review the two labels: “Non-AI Image” and “AI-Generated.”
- Drag the correct label onto each picture.
- When all images are labelled, submit your answers to see how well you identified real versus AI-generated content.
Social Media Privacy Settings
- Open your social media profile (Facebook, Instagram).
- Check if your birthday, phone number, location, or email are visible.
- Tap Edit Profile or Privacy Settings to hide or remove details you don’t want public.
- Open Facebook and go to Settings.
- Scroll to Audience and Visibility, then click on Profile Details.
- Look for personal information such as birthday, phone number, location, workplace, or email.
- Tap the pencil icon to edit each section.
- Change the audience to Only Me or remove details you don’t want visible.
- Open Instagram and go to your Settings.
- Go to the Accounts Center and select Personal Details under Accounts Settings.
- Review what is shown under Bio, Website, Gender, Birthday, and Contact Options.
- Remove any details you don’t want to be public, such as email, phone number, or location.
- To hide contact info from your profile, tap Profile Display and toggle off Display contact info.
Enabling 2FA Across Social Media Platforms
To enable 2FA on your social media platforms, follow the app-specific instructions below.
Is it Safe To Post?
Log in to your social media account (Facebook, Instagram), and browse through your activity log or posts in settings. Imagine that a stranger was able to see everything in your activity log; is there anything you would change to protect your privacy?
Facebook Privacy Checkup
Facebook’s Privacy Checkup tool allows users to review privacy and security settings to ensure users are sharing content with friends and not publicly. After you navigate to the Privacy Checkup page, Facebook will walk you through the settings for each topic you click on so you can choose what works best for your account.
- Navigate to Facebook.
- Click on your profile icon.
- Click on Settings & Privacy, then Privacy Check Up.
- Select the topic you wish to review.
To view the type of information you will be reviewing, click on the accordion below.
Managing Account Visibility
- Click your profile picture (top right of the Facebook homepage).
- Select Settings & privacy from the dropdown.
- Click Settings.
- In the left sidebar, go to Audience and visibility.
- Control who can follow you, see your posts, and more.
- On your Instagram homepage, click More (bottom left corner on desktop or menu icon on mobile).
- Click Settings.
- Scroll and select Account Privacy.
- Turn on the switch next to Private Account.
When your account is private, only approved followers can see your posts and stories.
Evaluating Profile Authenticity
The purpose of this activity is to help you learn how to evaluate the authenticity of social media profiles and recognize potential signs of scams or fake accounts. By exploring each profile and identifying both red and green flags, you’ll strengthen your ability to spot suspicious behaviour, detect AI-generated or impersonated accounts, and make safer decisions when connecting or sharing information online.
Instructions:
Use your mouse to explore and click on various sections of each profile to reveal hidden hotspots. There are 12 hotspots in total, consisting of:
- 5 green flags – indicators of authenticity
- 7 red flags – potential signs the profile may have been generated by AI
Meta Profiting from Fraudulent Ads
Meta is making massive profits from fraudulent ads. Internal documents show the company expected around 10 percent of its 2024 revenue to come from ads promoting scams or banned products, and its platforms display an estimated 15 billion scam ads every day. Instead of stopping these marketers, Meta has, in some cases, charged them higher rates and even produced internal reports ranking the scammers.
WHOIS Lookup
A WHOIS lookup lets you see information about who owns a website.
It’s like looking up the name and contact details behind a phone number.
What You Can Learn From WHOIS
- Who owns the domain (the person or company)
- When the website was created
- When it expires
- Where it is registered
- Sometimes: email or contact info (if it’s not hidden)
Many scammers hide their identity, so WHOIS can help you check if a website looks real or suspicious.
- Go to www.whois.com.
- Type the website name KnowledgeFlow.org.
- Press Enter.
- Look for:
- Creation date
- Registrar (ex. GoDaddy)
- Organization name
- Contact info (may be private)
Managing Social Media Ads
Scroll through your social media. What kind of ads do you see?
- Do you think you are the right target audience?
- Would you change your ad settings?
Facebook Ad Settings
- Open Facebook and go to Settings and Privacy.
- Select Settings.
- Scroll down to Ads.
Turn off or limit:
- Ads based on your activity from partners.
- Ads based on your activity on Facebook Company Products.
- Ads that include your social interactions.
Under Ad Topics, choose See fewer for topics you do not want to see.
Instagram Ad Settings
- Open Instagram and go to your profile.
- Tap Menu (three lines).
- Tap Settings and Privacy.
- Scroll to your app and media.
- Tap Ads.
Review:
- Ad topics.
- Ad interests.
- Data about your activity from partners (this sends you to Facebook to change the actual controls).
Across Both Meta Platforms:
- Go to Manage Info under Ad Preferences.
- Select “Don’t use my activity to show me ads about Meta” under “Ads about Meta on other platforms”.
- Under “Do you want us to use your activity information from ad partners to show you ads,” select “No, don’t make my ads more relevant by using this information”.
Turning these settings off in Ad Preferences will limit tracking and the number of ads displayed on your page.
Blocking Users & Restricting Comments on Social Media
Blocking users and restricting comments on social media helps protect you from harassment, scams, and unwanted contact. Each platform has different steps to do this safely and effectively. Review the slideshows with platform-specific instructions to ensure you can confidently manage your online space.
Bonus Activity
As a bonus activity, you will have the opportunity to review selected UnHackathon project entry developed by student participants across Canada. These young creators worked hard to design their own cybersecurity resources for seniors, and this is your chance to see their ideas in action.
Please note that the projects may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies, as they were created as part of a learning process. Enjoy reviewing their work and give them a big round of applause for their effort and creativity!
For each entry:
- Discuss what you think was done well.
- Identify what could be improved or was missing.
- Reflect on how the project could better support cybersafety for older adults.
Session 4 Wrap-Up & Checklist
In this session, you explored how to stay safer online by understanding both the benefits and risks of AI tools, learning to identify misinformation and disinformation, and using credible fact-checking resources to verify what you see. You also strengthened your digital privacy habits by reviewing app permissions, using “white lies” to protect personal details, managing cookies thoughtfully, and being mindful of what you share online. In this session, you built the skills needed to protect your identity and navigate social platforms with confidence.
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