Digital Citizenship

Digital Citizenship pertains to the acceptable and responsible use of technology. This could be in emails, social media, and in any online community in which the student is a member.

Digital citizenship goes beyond what happens in the classroom. Even though most school districts try to monitor what takes place on their network, many students use cellphones which are not monitored. Because of this, it is important that students understand how to use technology and the consequences of using it inappropriately.

Social Media

Social media, despite the fact that the sign up states students must be 13 or older, is a favorite amongst middle school students. Some students, in fact, have been on social media before 6th grade and at ages younger than ten. This includes social media such as TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, and YouTube (I include YouTube because they know the content creators of inappropriate content well). Students as young as six are creating TikToks and watching YouTube.

Many of these social media platforms allow students to be in communication with others, this includes potential predators. Some of these accounts do not allow for blocking of new or added accounts, and it easy for students to add new friends or followers (or create secret accounts) without the parents’ knowledge or consent. There are even apps for download that students can download that will hide what the students are doing.

Social Media Dangers

The problem with any social media is that students do not understand the danger with these platforms. While in contact with friends, there are others that they are also in contact with throughout the day. Some of these are predators who are pretending to be kids their own age with the intention of using that to their advantage.

The other issue with these platforms are with the problem of signing up pretending to be an age that they are not and being bombarded with advertisements or videos that are not for children who are underage. In fact, the content that is served to children was how YouTube ended up being fined a few years ago. They were found guilty of being in violation of COPPA laws that concern the use of children’s information. Even schools have to be careful about the programs that we use because those companies must be in compliance with those same laws.

Cyberbullying problems

The other issue with social media is in the form of cyberbullying. Students threatening one another online. Students hiding behind fake profiles to harass one another or threaten others. Many do not realize the consequences of cyberbullying until it is too late.

In the past, I have had students research and write arguments on making friends online (to reveal the dangers of online). I also had them write on should people be prosecuted for comments made online (to reveal that there are real laws in place for such things). I even created an anti-bullying unit around the same issue. In the unit, students must write the law on bullying to be clear on what constitutes bullying (giving examples of what that looks like). We read short stories and novels that deal with the topic of bullying along with articles and our state laws. Having students realize that the vagueness of the law can place them in violation of the law is sometimes an eye-opener for them. They don’t realize that teasing a friend (if caught out of context) can lead to them being in violation and charged for bullying.

What needs to be taught?

There are several things that students need to understand about digital citizenship.

1. What they say matters. Regardless of their intention- good or bad- online leaves a physical trail, much like a paper trail. If you don’t mean it, don’t put it out there because it is easy to screenshot things to use against you.
2. Delete doesn’t mean gone. When you put something out there, it doesn’t mean that it is gone once it has been deleted. Screenshots are a thing, but so is caching, and that is where things are archived until the cache is removed. I personally had websites I created in the early 2000s show up in a cache ten years after I closed the site. That’s because the search engine cached the page because they couldn’t find a newer page to replace it.
3. Scammers online do exist. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. You should do your own research about something before handing over money or agreeing to meet with someone. And never give out your personal information!
4. Never friend people you don’t know. If you don’t know them, you should probably pass on friending them or adding them. Even if they do say all the right things, just don’t do it.

Overall, children do lack the reasoning capability at young ages. That’s one of the reasons why I believe that we have to constantly be teaching digital citizenship. We need to remind them of the dangers that exist. Also, we need to remind them that they should not just hand out their personal information.

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