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What is a Username?
A username is a unique, identifying name chosen by a computer user. Generally, you need to come up with a username to create an account with a website. This name, along with a password, allows you to log into your account and access your personal information.
Within a website, all usernames must be unique. It can be difficult to come up with a username that's easy for you to remember but that someone else hasn't taken. Usernames can be good or bad for many reasons, easiness to remember being only one of them. Many web users fail to realize that a username (or email address) can reveal a lot about a person. Certain kinds of usernames even attract sexual predators and spammers. This is why choosing a safe username is important—especially for kids and teens, but for adults as well.
Concerns for Parents
- If your child has a suggestive or overtly juvenile username, they may "attract the wrong crowd" online. Other users may assume your child is into drugs or sex if their email address or username could be construed that way.
- Usernames that reveal too much about a person—such as age, gender, phone number, school, or address—can put one at risk of being targeted by cyberstalkers.
- Overly informative usernames can also put a person at risk for identity theft.
How Can I Keep My Child Safe?
- Know what email addresses and usernames your children use. Make sure their usernames follow these basic guidelines:
- Avoid being gender specific, especially if you are female. Don't include words like girl, lady, chick, or mama in a username.
- Don't be even mildly suggestive. Words like hot and sexy are red flags for all sorts of solicitation you don't want.
- Don't include specifics about your location in your username. A state or country may be ok, but including anything more specific than that is unwise. Kids and teens should never include the name of their school in a username or email address.
- Kids shouldn't use their names in an email address or username. This is common practice in the business world, but may not be wise for youngsters.
- Don't use swearing, profanity, vulgarity, or racial references in a username.
Where Can I Learn More?
Here's a full definition of a username.
Read this WikiHow article about creating a safe username.
