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How Not to Mess Up Online: A teenager’s guide … to not getting catfished, sued, arrested, cancelled or addicted
Selfies, Sexts, and Smartphones is the book every teenager (and their parents) should read. At least, that was true seven years ago. The digital world moves at breakneck speed. Since then, we’ve seen the rise of ‘we did it, Joe’, the fall of Harambe, the spread of ‘sus’—and that’s just the memes. Today’s teens have to navigate AI, deep fakes, misinformation, and so much more. Meanwhile, the law struggles to keep up, leaving plenty of hidden legal pitfalls. If fully developed adult brains struggle with it, what hope does a teenager’s freshly baked prefrontal cortex have?
Enter Rorke and Emma with How Not to Mess Up Online. Emma is a continental digital law specialist (and first responder to every social media crisis). Rorke, an elder Gen Z, has the lived experience teens can relate to. Together, they break down the digital world’s biggest challenges and help teens to exist consciously—and, hopefully, safely—online.
This book covers everything every teen should cyberbullying, sexting, sextortion, addiction, online safety, deep fakes, mental health, privacy, reputation, misinformation, scams, AI, ChatGPT, plagiarism, new laws, and more—all in a South African context. With real-life case studies from Emma’s work and unfortunate anecdotes from Rorke’s life in the digital trenches, we help today’s youth reap the benefits of the internet without ever needing to place a call to The Digital Law Company.
Enter Rorke and Emma with How Not to Mess Up Online. Emma is a continental digital law specialist (and first responder to every social media crisis). Rorke, an elder Gen Z, has the lived experience teens can relate to. Together, they break down the digital world’s biggest challenges and help teens to exist consciously—and, hopefully, safely—online.
This book covers everything every teen should cyberbullying, sexting, sextortion, addiction, online safety, deep fakes, mental health, privacy, reputation, misinformation, scams, AI, ChatGPT, plagiarism, new laws, and more—all in a South African context. With real-life case studies from Emma’s work and unfortunate anecdotes from Rorke’s life in the digital trenches, we help today’s youth reap the benefits of the internet without ever needing to place a call to The Digital Law Company.
246 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 4, 2025
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November 4, 2025#HowNotToMessUpOnline – Emma Sadleir & Rorke Wilson
#PenguinRandomHouseSA
In 2014 a very provocative title hit the shelves: Don’t film yourself having sex. The intended target market was young adults, and the contents deviated from what might have been expected in that it was, in essence, a guide to safe navigation of the digital world. More than a decade later the latter has not only evolved to a whole new level, but it also happens at a rate that makes it impossible for parents – and even the legislator – to keep up. Thus, this new, updated version of the former guide.
We would like to believe that we, and those that we care about, are internet wise and that no harm will therefore befall us. Statistics show the opposite. And a statement by the US Surgeon General, Vivek Murphy, illustrates the magnitude of the risks: “If we tell a child, “Use the force of your willpower to control how much time you’re spending (on social media)”, you’re pitting a child against the world’s greatest product designers and that’s just not a fair fight.” The findings of the authors corroborate this, according to whistleblowers at social media platforms: “They have (a) job: to make an addict out of you…It’s all about keeping those eyes glued to the screen.” (35) It is not harmless scrolling; it is the feeding of a very real addiction.
The authors are digital law experts, citing real case studies, and highlighting the legal, economical, emotional and reputational risks lurking in the digital passages by discussing relevant subjects like AI, deepfakes, sextortion, doxxing, screenshot scandals, cyberbullying, sexting, scams, catfishing, identity theft, revenge porn, and more.
The second-person narrative is utilized to directly address the reader, using age-appropriate language, such as: “…it has always sucked to be a teenager… but now there is a permanent, public record of it: the internet” (1), and “It might get boring, so as a reward for finishing this book, you can burn it at the next solstice and wish for a new iPhone” (77) whilst never stooping to a patronizing level and relying on wordplay and puns instead: “We want to make something abundantly clear to you guys: pobody’s nerfect.” (56)
The intention is not to convince the reader to abandon social media, but rather to promote safer usage thereof. Using basic principles of law, neuroscience and psychology, the authors explain concepts like the five stages of grooming, how to avoid suffering the repercussions of other people’s content, the basics of the laws regulating emojis and influencers, etc.
When I was a young child, we lived near a river. My father understood that it would be pointless to forbid us to play in the water and thus chose to teach us to swim. This guide does the same.
#uitdieperdsebek
#PenguinRandomHouseSA
In 2014 a very provocative title hit the shelves: Don’t film yourself having sex. The intended target market was young adults, and the contents deviated from what might have been expected in that it was, in essence, a guide to safe navigation of the digital world. More than a decade later the latter has not only evolved to a whole new level, but it also happens at a rate that makes it impossible for parents – and even the legislator – to keep up. Thus, this new, updated version of the former guide.
We would like to believe that we, and those that we care about, are internet wise and that no harm will therefore befall us. Statistics show the opposite. And a statement by the US Surgeon General, Vivek Murphy, illustrates the magnitude of the risks: “If we tell a child, “Use the force of your willpower to control how much time you’re spending (on social media)”, you’re pitting a child against the world’s greatest product designers and that’s just not a fair fight.” The findings of the authors corroborate this, according to whistleblowers at social media platforms: “They have (a) job: to make an addict out of you…It’s all about keeping those eyes glued to the screen.” (35) It is not harmless scrolling; it is the feeding of a very real addiction.
The authors are digital law experts, citing real case studies, and highlighting the legal, economical, emotional and reputational risks lurking in the digital passages by discussing relevant subjects like AI, deepfakes, sextortion, doxxing, screenshot scandals, cyberbullying, sexting, scams, catfishing, identity theft, revenge porn, and more.
The second-person narrative is utilized to directly address the reader, using age-appropriate language, such as: “…it has always sucked to be a teenager… but now there is a permanent, public record of it: the internet” (1), and “It might get boring, so as a reward for finishing this book, you can burn it at the next solstice and wish for a new iPhone” (77) whilst never stooping to a patronizing level and relying on wordplay and puns instead: “We want to make something abundantly clear to you guys: pobody’s nerfect.” (56)
The intention is not to convince the reader to abandon social media, but rather to promote safer usage thereof. Using basic principles of law, neuroscience and psychology, the authors explain concepts like the five stages of grooming, how to avoid suffering the repercussions of other people’s content, the basics of the laws regulating emojis and influencers, etc.
When I was a young child, we lived near a river. My father understood that it would be pointless to forbid us to play in the water and thus chose to teach us to swim. This guide does the same.
#uitdieperdsebek
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review