… life in algorithms, emoji mannerisms.♫♫♫
Digital Citizenship vs. Digital Responsibility
I had a tough time starting this first blog post, not really sure what to write about or how to connect the readings to my own learning journey.
The first thing I realized is that I may have had the definition of digital citizenship all wrong. I assumed (you know what they say about assuming…) that being a digital citizen is about being active on social media, which is not something I am very active with.
Over the last few years, I have found myself caring less and less about what’s going on with social media. I have also found it becoming more detrimental to my own mental health and well-being… being bombarded with what everyone else is doing has led to distraction from my own life.
Dr. Mike Ribble defines Digital Citizenship as “the continuously developing norms of appropriate, responsible, and empowering technology use.”
Which brings me to the first article I grabbed from the reading list, Why I Hate ‘Digital Citizenship‘ by Keith Heggart. I have to say, I really enjoy the title for a class focused on Digital Citizenship and Media Literacies.
Upon reading, I can see that this article agrees with Ribble’s updated definition of Digital Citizenship – it’s not just about teaching kids the basics of being online, but about teaching how to use technology in a safe, responsible way. Okay, so it’s not all about social media..
Next I moved along to Alec Couros and Katia Hildebrandt’s jointly written article, (Digital) Identity in a World that No Longer Forgets, and this one really got me thinking about teens and children as digital citizens.
In the book The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt, there is a metaphor for technology with our children. Jonathan asks readers to imagine that their young child has been chosen by a tech billionaire to go on a mission to Mars. You do not know the dangers that are out there, how it will change their physical bodies or their brains, or what they will be like when they come back. Nobody would ever agree to that! Yet, there has been a generation of children (aka ME) who navigated the new world of social media while we had no idea of the long-term effects, good or bad.
Couros and Hildebrandt make the point that at this time, we also have parents and guardians using social media and the web perhaps without fully understanding it’s implications. There are photos and videos uploaded that may stay on there forever without the consent of those who are in them. I was lucky enough not to have the internet during the most embarrassing years of my life, and I have always asked for consent before putting any photo online of someone else or their children; this is because I was taught to do so by those around me.
“From a purely practical perspective, it is basically impossible to erase all “negatives” from a digital footprint: the Internet has the memory of an elephant, in a sense, with cached pages, offline archives, and non-compliant international service providers.” – Hildebrandt & Couros
This quote really got me thinking. At first, it terrifies me. How can it not?? What can we do about it?
Like everything, the key is education. First and foremost, we need to teach our students how to manage what they are posting online, getting consent from others, and controlling who sees it. Secondly, we need to teach empathy when it comes to reacting to what we see online. Everyone does stupid stuff, but not everyone has it living out on the internet. Part of being a citizen is acting responsibly in the space that you reside in — affording others the same forgiveness and understanding that you would wish to have.
Maybe this doesn’t have to be such a scary thing after all…
The part where you mentioned that everyone has done stupid stuffs but not everyone has it living on the internet is empathy in itself. There is no perfect human which is why it is important to help others and show empathy rather than criticize which reinforces one of Ribble’s element; to be diligent with helping and protecting others in the digital space.
That’s such a good point… maybe the more technology changes, the more empathetic we will become? The more important empathy will be. 🙂
Jenni, I enjoyed your blog. It is difficult to start, and once you start, sometimes to know when to end and not ramble on. I find I sometimes go down a rabbit hole. This is also how I have felt with Social Media and how it can suck you in, and then you wonder where an hour or two have gone, and you realize you have missed out on opportunities with those around you in the real world. We need to be mindful of how we respond to social media, as it can have a lasting impact on us that we might not even realize until we are older.
Hello Jenne! I really enjoyed reading your post. I love this statement- “Part of being a citizen is acting responsibly in the space that you reside in — affording others the same forgiveness and understanding that you would wish to have.”
I believe that every person has their own stories and commits mistake. That’s why I’d rather not comment on rants or sentiments on social media and be misunderstood that I don’t even care, than to participate in the proliferation of negativity dragging people down.