The world is increasingly connected, with everything from desktop and laptop computers to smartphones, tablets, and even smart watches. The increasing prevalence of Internet-connected devices means that people of all ages, even young children, must learn the fundamentals of good digital citizenship. Like citizenship in a country, the concept of digital citizenship focuses on certain key rights, responsibilities, and behaviours that are acceptable and advisable in the online space. Though many of these acceptable practices go unsaid, it’s important for children to learn them early and to understand why they’re so important to routine browsing and communicating online.
Parents who are just beginning to confront the concept of digital citizenship for their children may feel overwhelmed at the concept. After all, there are many things to discuss, ranging from appropriate websites to security technologies and the proper behaviours to exhibit when communicating with others electronically. When getting started with digital citizenship, there are a few things that parents should make sure to learn about, communicate, and enforce with their children. Reviewing these behaviours will help keep kids safe online, whether the danger posed is bullying, hacking, or another malicious activity to which they may be particularly susceptible as youngsters.
Tips for Teaching Digital Citizenship to Children
Computer and IT experts have long advocated for digital citizenship studies both at home and in the earliest years of a primary education, largely because learning these behaviours early can help to prevent the likelihood of online bullying or illegal activities later in a child’s life. With that in mind, there are a few tips that these professionals recommend to parents who are just beginning the conversation about acceptable practices online.
1. Start the Conversation Very, Very Early
One of the biggest mistakes made by new parents is the belief that digital citizenship is a conversation for older children, perhaps after they’ve already learned the basic concepts of computer usage at school. IT and digital citizenship experts, however, disagree pretty strongly. In fact, they often compare teaching digital citizenship to teaching language: These skills should be a consistent part of a child’s life from the first moment that they use their first electronic device.
Experts in the field recommend starting from a very basic level, very early in life. Teach children how a device works and help them see how using the device is like their real life. Devices allow children to play games electronically, but they also play games with their peers. These devices allow kids to communicate electronically, but they also frequently communicate with peers and parents in real life. Draw comparisons between these online and offline situations, and communicate that the expectations for both situations are the same.
As children grow older, widen their scope of responsibility and proficiency. Older children should be encouraged to choose their own password, for example, and taught how to pick a password that is both useful and hard for hackers to compromise. Teach children about what constitutes an acceptable website, a polite conversation online, or a secure shopping experience. Guide them toward resources that enrich their online experience, and make sure that they aren’t pursuing websites and activities that either open them up to bullying or allow them to become the bully. This will help to create powerful, proficient young adults who use the Internet in a safe and respectable way.
2. Communicate the Concept of Digital Permanence
This is a concept that even many adults struggle with: Everything posted online is likely going to be there forever, with rare exception, even if it’s offensive, personally damaging, or somewhat embarrassing. While many adults didn’t understand the concept of digital permanence in the earliest years of online communication and social media, or indeed didn’t expect digital permanence to exist, this fact must be confronted with a younger generation very early on.
One of the best ways to discuss digital permanence is to simply compare it to talking to a friend. Will a friend ever forget what was said to them? Well, the Internet is the same way: Once it has been said online, it can’t be undone, won’t be forgotten, and could be a problem for a very long time. By helping children understand this concept early on, they’ll begin to understand why it’s so important to communicate deliberately, and kindly, with their friends and on various social media platforms as they grow older.
3. Beware Gifts from Strangers Online and Off
One of the lessons taught early to most children is to beware of strangers, especially those who claim to know them, or their parents, and have some sort of gift to offer. Kids are taught that these situations are almost always dangerous and should be avoided, even reported, if at all possible. The same type of lesson needs to be taught to children who are just beginning to send emails and other messages with online accounts: Beware gifts from strangers.
It’s a good idea for parents to discourage their children from communicating with strangers online in the first place. As every parent knows, however, children will typically venture into the gray areas online where they aren’t necessarily supposed to be. Sometimes, that means they’ll have a conversation with someone they don’t know. The best practice, then, is to prepare young children for what to do in these situations.
Start off by comparing online strangers to similar situations offline. If the child doesn’t personally know the person they’re talking to, and doesn’t know what the “gift” truly is, then it’s time to end the conversation and log off. This is a very important way to prevent everything from email and message spam to the downloading of viruses, malware, and exploitative apps that take control of the computer’s camera or microphone without notification.
These types of “gifts” can put children at risk of harm and exploitation, so it’s important that parents both police their children’s online actions and teach kids how to police themselves as well. Just as in other areas of digital citizenship education, the goal is to both inform children and to help them become good, independent decision-makers online.
4. Adopt a Strict Policy of Co-Browsing
One of the best ways to enforce good web safety practices, and help children avoid cyber bullying, is to adopt a policy of co-browsing. Simply put, co-browsing involves only letting kids access connected devices when a parent can clearly see what’s on the screen as well. By co-browsing, especially when children are just beginning to independently access Internet resources, it’s much easier to enforce a policy of good “e safety” and to take advantage of “teachable moments” when kids come into contact with a questionable website, conversation, or individual.
As children grow older, parents can gradually lesson the frequency of co-browsing. By the time they reach their “tween” years, most kids should be able to make sensible decisions in their routine browsing. With some security software and potentially an Internet filter, they’ll also be prevented from making egregious mistakes if they do venture away from safe online spaces.
Cyber Bullying: How to Deal with and Prevent a Real Problem Online
Children who have learned how to become a good digital citizen will likely be able to avoid becoming a cyberbully, but this doesn’t mean they’ll be able to escape the wrath of an online tormentor altogether. By understanding how this bullying works, parents will be able to prepare their kids to handle any incident that might arise. Furthermore, they’ll be able to prepare themselves for any emotional toll that such an occurrence might take on their children and their entire family.
So, What is Cyberbullying?
Put most simply, cyberbullying is the practice of harassing and intimidating someone else online, much as would take place at school between a bully and his or her “victims.” Online, however, the practice of bullying transforms into something that is initially harder to detect and can be harder to completely eliminate. There are several practices that can introduce this kind of bullying into the home. Understanding these facts about cyberbullying will make it easier to detect and resolve any such issues:
- Many Bullies Pretend to Be Someone Else
One of the most common ways that bullying incidents begin is by the bully pretending to be someone else, perhaps a stranger or another friend. By pretending to be someone else, the bully can persuade the child to give up sensitive or potentially embarrassing information more freely. Then, that same information is used to intimidate or harass the child into taking actions that are counter to their own interests.
Sometimes, the information is used exclusively to demoralize the victim. In some cases, persistent and unavoidable cyberbullying can lead to self-harm because it becomes so severe. This is one reason that children must be taught how to interact with, or avoid, strangers online. - There is No “Typical Age” for a Bully of Victim
While parents focus heavily on Internet safety for kids, they should remember that incidents of bullying can happen to a child of any age. Even young adults can sometimes find themselves at the mercy of a bully who has gotten ahold of some damaging or embarrassing information via an electronic source.In fact, young adults use many more social media sites and could be even more prone to bullying. The key is to communicate regularly with children of all ages about their online experience. By building trust early, children of all ages will be more likely to discuss an incident rather than believing they can, or must, handle it on their own.
- Bullying Primarily Occurs on Mobile Devices
It’s tempting to believe that conventional websites, like the desktop version of Facebook, are where bullying often occurs. This is not true, however. The current generation of young people is more likely to use a smartphone than any other kind of device when accessing the Internet. This is why more than 80 percent of all bullying incidents involve a mobile phone and at least one mobile application or social media service. Parents must make sure that their digital citizenship conversations include conversations about cyber safety on mobile devices as a result. - Almost All Children Have Seen Bullying Take Place
One of the most disturbing cyber bullying facts is that it’s incredibly common. More than 80 percent of children have at least seen online bullying taking place, while 43 percent of children say that they have personally been bullied.Nearly a quarter of all children report that they have been the victim of multiple bullying incidents online. These statistics practically make the case for digital citizenship education on their own.
- Many People Ignore Online Bullies
Even children who know about cyber security and best practices are reluctant to report any incident of bullying online. In fact, of the children who reported seeing some form of bullying on the Internet, more than 90 percent of them declined to report the incident to an adult. This means that even most people being bullied resist disclosing that information to parents or teachers.
In many cases, this occurs because the victims simply don’t know whether an adult can make a difference or whether the incident is even worth reporting in the first place. A solid foundation in digital citizenship can teach children how to overcome bullies and take appropriate steps to preserve their happiness and mental health when they’re accosted by such an individual.
Digital Citizenship is a Key Part of Accessing the Internet
When an individual becomes a citizen in a new country, they must take time to learn about that country’s culture, customs, and even language. The same must apply to the Internet, where young children increasingly must be fully proficient in communication, bullying prevention, and safe browsing, at a young age. By conveying the importance of being a good digital citizen, parents can help their children feel safe and secure enough to report online bullying, resist the pull of strangers in online conversations, and choose safe browsing experiences that are enriching rather than potentially damaging.