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When looking at digital citizenship there are many positive examples and ways that digital citizenship teaches important skills for online communication. One of the issues not talked about often is the downsides of online technology that is the harmful content that comes from digital citizenship. This harmful content is very unsafe for children that are online and harmful for anyone that gets caught up in this content. 

○ Some examples of harmful content online include sexual or violent content and any content that tries to manipulate the viewer, hackers, pornographic content, violent content, cyberbullying and there are several more types of harmful content! digital citizenship tries to always prevent cyberbullying and present internet safety but sometimes harmful content can be found. 

○A real example of this content found digitally is pornography as it is sexually explicated material to arouse the viewer or whoever is listening. This is unjustifiable to how easily accessible it is and is a threat to our children's online safety. A key in this is if you contain good digital citizenship it will not be hard for you to avoid this harmful content and can help children avoid this content by blocking this content. 

►Sexting is a very controversial topic in the technological world today. There are a countless number of young children that think it is funny or cool to send nude or explicit photos via digital technology such as mobile phones or social media. Little do they know that sending such material of minors is not only harmful, it’s illegal.

►It also puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on kids when being put in these uncomfortable situations, deciding how to appropriately respond to requests for these types of explicit pictures. I believe that the first step in the right direction to eliminate these explicit acts is to create a campaign that practices the right way to act towards these situations, looking at all the different perspectives.

https://digcitutah.com/sexting/

Digital ethics is viewed as a set of moral rules that guide how people manage themselves online. In a broad scope, this means taking responsibility for how you act online.

‣ Personal Ethics

Most people often think of respecting themselves and others online. For example, education on cyberbullying would be a part of digital ethics. Digital citizens need to present themselves and communicate in a way that isn’t harmful. The big question is: what does that entail? It may vary from country or culture, but for the most part, we must be aware that there are a set of principles that are part of human decency. 

‣ Influential Ethics

Beyond personal responsibility, digital ethics can expand to how respected institutions act online: companies, celebrities, politicians, etc. Whether we like it or not, society tends to look to people of status or power on how to act. These people have a responsibility to set a standard on how to act online.

‣ Rights and Laws

Ethics also expands to rights and laws set in place online. Every digital citizen has a right to privacy and free speech within the laws and regulations of platforms. Digital citizens need to be aware of the regulations online to practice digital ethics and be aware of their responsibility and rights online. For example, if you violate the terms and conditions on a social media site, your account could be suspended or deactivated. 

A good digital citizen is aware of what they are creating, consuming, and sharing. This is a piece of a whole puzzle regarding digital safety. In the simplest terms, “digital safety is protecting ourselves when using digital devices.” People need to be aware that actions on digital devices are the same as real-world actions. Some tips for staying safe online include:

↳ Protecting your identity- make sure you are aware of who you are sharing information with and what platforms you are providing personal information to. Avoiding identity theft can be as simple as making sure you have secure passwords and making sure your providing information on secure websites. 

↳ Avoiding Internet Scams/Hackers- make yourself familiar with common internet scams that are trying to put a virus on your computer or hackers that are trying to steal your information. There are safety settings you can activate on devices, email accounts and social media accounts for a safer environment. 

↳ Safe communication online- make sure you know who you are talking to and what information you are sharing with them. Online safety in this regard usually refers to strangers online. This is often seen with predators trying to take advantage of younger people online. 

https://digcitutah.com/digital-safety/

Digital Literacy is a broad term that has many different meanings and scopes to different people. To break the term down, digital refers to “involving or relating to the use of computer technology” and literacy refers to “the ability to read and write.” In the most simplistic terms, we could put this together to form “the ability to read and write when involving or relating to the use of computer technology.” While this is a start, the depth of digital literacy goes farther than this.

The American Library Association (ALA) defines digital literacy as “the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills.”

Although this definition is a good start, I think this is a good example of where the confusion with digital literacy may lie. Most people, especially younger generations, would look at this definition and think that they are digitally literate. A majority of younger people have grown up using information and communication technologies. A majority of people also are familiar with social media platforms, and how to communicate on them. 

1) Content Creation 

When creating content, there are numerous factors that need to be considered in terms of digital literacy. Are you communicating responsibly? And more importantly, what are the terms of communicating responsibly? For example, can you curse or use language that may be offensive to others? There seems to be a set of universal standards that everyone finds to be basic human manners. Also, there is the notion that what you put out on the Internet is inevitability there forever. 

2) Content Consumption

There is a depth of consumption that goes beyond actually just reading content put on the Internet. When finding content, the main problem seems to be discerning from reliable sources. A huge problem in today’s society is to believe the first thing you read. Is the content representative of all viewpoints or is it misleading? Learning how to search for content can also be more complex than it seems, and goes beyond whether you want to click on a video or choosing which book to read on your Kindle. For example, do users know how to search a database or use keywords to utilize a search? 

3) Content Sharing

Communication can also go beyond sharing a funny post or political post you agree with. A digital citizen’s privacy, safety, and reputation also come into play. Consumers of content need to be aware that their reputation is at stake when they share content. There is a responsibility for safety and privacy regarding sharing personal information; most people don’t think of the consequences that may come with the information they share. 

https://literacy.ala.org/digital-literacy/

☞ What is the trail of liking, commenting, sharing your location, or updating a status called? 

Well, that is your digital footprint. 

According to Digital Citizenship Utah,  “A digital footprint [or digital reputation] is all of the information online about a person either posted by that person or others, intentionally or unintentionally. Filling out a form, leaving a blog comment, updating your status, checking into a location, emailing or IMing a friend, posting a photo, visiting a website, using a search engine… everything you do online leaves a trail. This trail is your digital footprint.”

☞Every single online and offline action you take on social media sites and on the internet in general all adds to your footprint which can be described as the digital version of you. Your digital footprint is compiled by a series of online algorithm tracking things from who you frequently chat on Facebook all the way to what ads you click on on Amazon. It tailors an online experience personalized for a single person while collecting new data as it goes along. 

☞ While these algorithms are extremely complex and descriptive, your digital footprint could potentially become compromised easily. Sometimes, these algorithms think they know what you want to see online based on your demographic, location, age, etc. but in reality are “predicting” the wrong things. We must protect our digital footprint online and make sure our name is associated with only safe and positive attributes. 

☞ All in all, the internet’s codes and algorithms aren’t you and we have the final say as to what gets posted online!

http://digcitutah.com/digital-footprint/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqrLV3tr25QIVC5yzCh1vbg__EAAYASAAEgIJ9fD_BwE

💡Being a GOOD digital citizen means double checking each thing you do and say online! 💡

A direct negative affect of digital citizenship is cyberbullying that occurs on online platforms and social media websites. Cyberbullying can include writing/posting harmful messages on a website about someone else, posting embarrassing photos, harassment towards one person or a group of people, etc. The concept of cyberbullying is that the bully harasses, slanders, threatens, or uses digital media to put another down emotionally and mentally. Cyberbullying is an ongoing issue today for many younger-aged online users who feel the need to “bully” behind their computer screen. Technologies today that allow for anonymous postings give bullies a sense of power and raises many red flags as to how people are acting as digital citizens today. In fact, according to a post by Absolute Safe Schools, 95% of online users who witness cyberbullying, DON’T do anything about it! Would you say the same negative comment to someone online and in person? If you say no, think about improving your digital citizenship and preventing cyberbullies from striking again!

💡The article below focuses more on the impact of digital citizenship education on cyberbullying!