Explaining the internet to an eight year old.

I was talking to Senor Onion this morning, and I glanced at the laptop he was on, and asked, "hey what's that? Is that twitter?" and he said, "nope" and quickly tried to hide/close the window. I said, "wait... bring that back a second." He said, "oh sorry, closed the window." I said, "That's okay, I can look at the history." And he got that "oh shit" look in his eye. I looked at the history and he pointed at something and said, "oh it was that I bet." And I said, "no... look. There's twitter." And I opened it and THERE was a twitter account with his name on it AND a minecraft skin that is his. I said, "that's you isn't it?" and you have to laugh with me, when he said, "There are other people on the internet with my name." I said, "look kid, that is your minecraft skin. I know it anywhere. THAT is your user-name. I KNOW IT." And he finally broke down and said it was his.
The kid has a freaking twitter account, (it's only a couple weeks old. We check on what he is looking at fairly often.) so he could get something or other. He had only a couple of followers (automatic follows from minecraft sorts), and follows other minecraft superstars. But we have had a few conversations about the internet, being safe on the internet, why kids aren't allowed certain kinds of accounts, and why you shouldn't lie to your Mother, even as she is presenting you with the evidence dude. LADY AIN'T STUPID YO!

We are going to have to check things a little more closely, and make sure he is being safe. I broke it down that we aren't so worried about him, but there are unpleasant people on the internet who do try and bother/hurt/prey on kids. And we agree that it is a real bother that there are creepers and liars who try and make the internet unfun. And because we are his parents and we love him to bits, we have this duty to keep him safe. And that means limitations, as he learns how to handle this powerful tool. I think he was surprised to learn how long his Mother has been on the internet. I told him, "Dude, I have seen some unpleasant things I didn't want to see. I have dealt with some really icky people. But I have also had some amazing experiences on the internet. I would prefer you have the amazing experiences. So I have to pay close attention to what you do."

I was pretty calm, though I did want to yell, "OMFG KID YOU HAVE NO IDEA!!!"
And he was pretty receptive to what I had to say, and added his thoughts. He had been watching a minecraft video which referenced a meme from 4chan (yeah. I know) and he had no idea that it had this complicated history. I told him, "Of course you don't. You are eight years old, and so you won't know about this stuff. But it is stuff that gets around the internet. This is why I check on you. I know that you just want to look at minecraft, roblox, beano, cool hardware for your dream computer, and youtube. But you are going to encounter some of this too. I trust you. I don't really trust everyone else."

We also had a talk about why you shouldn't lie to people. It's disrespectful (especially to people you love, and who love you.) and it breaks the trust. I told him that I want to trust him, and I hope he trusts me. And that he knows when he lies, he creates a lot more trouble for himself. I always tell him, I might be mildly irritated if he tells the truth about something I may not like, but I will be a lot more upset when he belittles my intelligence with bullshit lies. Kid needs to learn, Mom is not stupid about some things.

Schools teach internet safety, but I think they just talk about some guy luring you to his house. They don't explain all the other stuff. Is this like sex ed, where I have to explain things with more nuance, and all that jazz?