Growing up without the internet until I was 16, I got my first real taste of the “information superhighway” as a teenager, back when the internet was a bit like the Wild West. Napster was all the rage, and our family computer had quite the collection of downloaded songs. My first social media experience was on Hi5, which was essentially a prototype of Facebook—similar in function but far less successful. In 2003, this was cutting-edge technology.

Reading Dr. Ribble’s nine elements of digital citizenship feels like looking at a set of rules written after the fact, especially for millennials like me who got high-speed internet early on. The elements that resonated most with me were Digital Commerce and Digital Communication. I still remember when Amazon only sold books, and I couldn’t understand why anyone would order one online instead of just going to a bookstore like Coles. By 2024, I now do most of my shopping online without a second thought.

In a classroom setting, I’d want to teach students how to identify reputable online sellers versus sketchy ones. I’ve fallen for some scams myself—two bottles of “Elk Horn Fuzz” (a dubious supplement) in my cabinet serve as a reminder that even experienced internet users can be duped. Today, reading product reviews is a skill, as it’s often possible to discern genuine feedback from fake reviews.

As for Digital Communication, I still use text abbreviations and old-school typed emojis (
), thanks to my time on ICQ and MSN Messenger. Instant messaging was transformative as a teen, especially with large group chats and that iconic MSN alert sound, which lives in my memory.

In the classroom, digital communication now involves instant messaging, image-sharing, and access to endless information at our fingertips—something I didn’t have growing up, though I understand how it all works now. My rule would be, “Don’t keep anything on your phone that you wouldn’t show your grandma.”

We could dive into this further, but this is where I am at with it!

Rob