What counts as sensitive for kids

Treat these as red-zone unless a trusted adult says otherwise:

• Phone numbers and addresses — help strangers find or contact people
• Passwords and codes — unlock accounts; never paste them into AI
• IDs / school ID numbers / lunch PINs — identify you in systems
• Medical details — conditions, meds, appointments (yours or others’)
• Classmate photos and videos — faces and locations are their business too
• Exact schedules (“home alone until 6”) — safety risk if shared widely

Yellow-zone (ask / scrub first): full names with school + grade, private grades, family conflict details, voice notes of other people.

Usually okay: generic homework questions, public book titles, math problems without personal data, fictional examples.

Sensitive data can end up in logs, chats you forgot about, screenshots, or synced devices. Even if a product promises care, you still choose what leaves your phone. Minimizing is power: share the smallest fact that still gets help.

If you’re unsure, default to scrub. You can always add a detail later with an adult’s okay. You cannot easily unspread a paste.

Kids sometimes think sensitive means spy-movie secrets. In real life, sensitive is often boring-looking: a lunch PIN, a parent’s workplace address in a calendar invite, a teammate’s injury update, or a photo that reveals a house number in the background.

Context changes sensitivity. A jersey number on a public roster may be fine. That same number plus home address plus “home alone” is not. Train yourself to see combinations, not only single fields.

If you would be upset to see the info on a stranger’s story, treat it as sensitive. Empathy is a privacy tool.

Siblings may share devices. Clear chats you would not want them to forward. Classmates may joke-consent in the moment and regret it later — default to scrubbing faces and names anyway. You can always be more private later; you cannot always undo a share.