We often refer to citizenship as the responsibilities that go along with becoming a part of a society or community. We teach certain principles such as respect, ethics, personal responsibility and doing no harm. One of the major influencers of our youth is the community of online users. It is a certain reality that our youth are growing up online. When we think of social media, gaming and digital learning, we recognize that these connective spaces come with significant benefits and some real risks. Teaching our kids to become responsible digital citizens can help them use technology safely, ethically and responsibly.
This matters for several reasons, simply because online actions can have significant and lasting impact. Good digital citizenship education allows our youth to:
- Build healthy online relationships
- Avoid cyberbullying and other online conflicts
- Protect their mental health
- Have perspective on negative influencers that permeate online messaging
- Develop a positive digital footprint for future school and job opportunities
Some key principles for youth to learn online:
- Think before you post
- Online posts are very difficult to remove
- Ask: Would I say this face to face, and would I be ok if a teacher, parent or future employer saw what I am about to post?
- Respect others online
- Online spaces are real communities. Words can hurt even behind a screen.
- You can disagree without attacking. Don’t like or forward harmful content.
- Protect privacy and personal information
- Youth should understand why passwords matter, what information should never
- be shared and how location-sharing and tagging can be risky.
- Be able to spot misinformation
- Question headlines that trigger strong emotions. Check sources before sharing.
- Understand that not everything online is true.
- Manage screen time and mental health. Healthy digital use includes:
- Taking breaks from social media
- Not measuring self-worth by likes or followers
- Understanding when online behavior affects sleep or obsessive thoughts
For the adults who have a relationship with our kids, they should be very conscious of their own online behavior as a model to follow. Also, there needs to be communication that is more teaching-focused than fear-focused. There should be an environment where questions are encouraged and there is open dialogue about healthy digital citizenship.
Rather than making this into a fear or negative discussion, we should look at digital citizenship as empowerment of our youth. It will allow them to communicate respectfully online, protect their personal information, think critically about what they see and share and use their online presence in ways that don’t harm them or anyone else. Taking the time to teach digital citizenship can make a huge difference in how we encourage our youth’s healthy use of the online community.
Gerry Vassar
President/CEO
