Good citizenship in person needs to flow over into good citizenship online. It has a lot of the same principles: respect, being kind, and meeting expectations.
Jill Felty
Digital citizenship is an ever-growing responsibility for everyone living in the twenty-first century. At first, I was unfamiliar with this term. However, when I looked up its definition, I knew exactly what it was. I believe many people understand the idea of digital citizenship without knowing the specific term. Essentially, digital citizenship is using the internet in a responsible and respectful way. There are many different aspects to this concept including online safety, cyberbullying, and understanding what and how to use our plethora of online resources effectively. It is imperative that our students are equipped with this knowledge starting at a young age so that they can safely and effectively use the internet throughout their school career and onwards.
I believe the most important aspect of digital citizenship is learning how to be safe while online, especially for children and teenagers. It is easy to fall into the belief that being behind a screen is safe since there is no immediate physical danger. However, strangers online can be just as dangerous as strangers in person. With the aspect of anonymity, it is easy to believe that you are getting to know somebody but there is no guarantee that the other person is being truthful or has good intentions. It is important for students to recognize the danger in exposing personal information online where hundreds or thousands of strangers can view, interact, or steal it. Students should be taught how to protect their information online, through privacy settings or simply not posting information, and also how to recognize an unsafe situation and notify the adults around them. With younger students, it’s easy to stress the importance of stranger danger even while online. For older students, we need to help them recognize when it is and isn’t appropriate to communicate with people online, as well as how to protect themselves when they do choose to use social media.
Cyberbullying is an extension of online safety. Students may not understand the impact that words sent through a screen can have compared to in-person action. Anything that would not be acceptable to say or do to somebody in person is still not acceptable to do online. Students are at great risk of cyberbullying through social media, especially as they grow older and start to become bolder. Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, and dozens of other platforms are full of different forms of cyberbullying that are often played off as jokes. While teachers and administrators cannot control what our students may choose to post on personal accounts, we can teach them to recognize harmful words or behavior and give them a reason to pause before posting. Just as students are encouraged to speak out if they see or experience any type of bullying in person, they should be taught to do the same online.
Digital literacy is an equally important aspect of digital citizenship. Students must be taught how to navigate and understand the articles, studies, news reports, and everything in between. With the internet, students have access to millions of different websites, but not all of them will be credible, applicable, or beneficial. Students need to learn how to filter through different resources to find the best ones for their specific needs. When assigning research tasks, teachers should help students choose websites or databases that are appropriate for academic work. If students are learning about a controversial or debatable topic, teachers can use this opportunity to teach the difference between biased and unbiased websites and how both can be beneficial in certain situations. By teaching our students the skills to filter a database search from 30,000 results to 100 results, we are empowering their online navigational skills.
Digital citizenship is an ongoing skill that students will continue to cultivate even when they leave our schools. It is our responsibility to provide them with the foundational abilities to keep themselves safe, post and interact kindly and responsibly, and discover worthwhile resources that suit their needs. Schools have always had the overarching goal of teaching their students how to become impactful citizens in their communities, states, and countries. In our expanding online society, we now need to extend that knowledge to become responsible global citizens.
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