My digital era of MSN Messenger, dial up internet, Prepaid minutes and flip phones…privacy…WHAT??  I am talking, having a conversation with my high school boyfriend on the home phone, while my family sat around the kitchen table and the furthest I could stretch the phone cord was around the fridge. I am talking trying to sneak downstairs in the middle of the night to chat with friends on MSN Messenger, but the dial up internet woke up the whole neighbourhood. That was my time. Digital citizenship and cyber safety were not even coined terms. I honestly can’t recall conversations taking place during my high school years at all.

It wasn’t until University, when Facebook and Hi5 became relevant. Posting photos of wild and crazy Saturday nights was a common occurrence for the first few years, but by the last and into the start of our careers, the stories of teachers losing jobs or damaging reputations due to their posts and photos online surfaced. An adult by that time, the simple mention of career damage was enough to cause monitoring of profiles, and in some cases, dismantling.

Now as a “seasoned” educator, navigating a fast-paced technological world, I will say that I am not a fan of scare tactics. I am a fan of EARLY exposure, sharing, and dialogue. I am genuinely curious about the grip social media platforms have on our students, but I am most interested in the fact that children with low confidence, body issues, and not feeling like they belong anywhere causes them to make unfavourable decisions. That, for me, is where I choose to focus my energy first. As an early years teacher, I am passionate about engaged citizenship and teaching my students, as young as grade 1, about their rights as humans. I work hard to build them up with the hopes that as they get older, they will not be torn down. I believe that if we can solidify them as people, whose needs for belonging are fulfilled, they may naturally become more aware and less starved for attention and risky behaviour. I believe that media awareness should start young in order to expose the harmful side effects of some media platforms, while also maintaining the useful tools and experiences the digital age has to offer. I think it is awesome that we no longer have to wait for our internet to kick start or our phones to run out of money on their cards right as we run out of gas on the freeway. But, I also think that, if we aren’t cautious, there is a pretty big price to pay and as educators, we have a pretty good opportunity to help drive this vehicle.