Digital Citizenship and Internet Safety: Essentials for Responsible Online Behavior

Understanding Digital Citizenship

What is Digital Citizenship?

A comprehensive digital citizenship definition refers to the responsible and ethical use of technology by individuals. It encompasses behaviors that contribute to a safe, respectful, and productive online environment. In today’s interconnected world, where digital interactions are ubiquitous, understanding media education is crucial. What does digital citizenship mean? It includes knowing how to navigate the internet safely, recognizing and combating cyberbullying, and maintaining privacy and security. Embracing this role means being aware of one’s online presence and making thoughtful decisions that affect both oneself and others.

The Importance of Internet Safety

Internet safety for kids is a fundamental aspect of media education, especially for children and students. The online world is vast and offers numerous opportunities for learning and connecting, but it also poses risks such as exposure to inappropriate content, cyberbullying, and privacy breaches. Teaching internet safety for students helps protect young users from these dangers and empowers them to make informed decisions. It also fosters a sense of responsibility and respect towards others in the digital space, laying the groundwork for positive and constructive online behavior.

This generation of students has more exposure to the web and are more technically adept in navigating it than their predecessors. Early (and often unsupervised) access to the internet means that while they're great at finding obscure information and completing projects, they might not know how to stay safe.

It's important to discuss internet safety with students at the beginning of the year, or when you're beginning your first unit that involves any sort of digital literacy element. It's also important to remind students about digital citizenship as it extends beyond an individual staying safe.

In a time where students are spending more time on the computer both during school and at home, it's important for them to understand the rules of internet safety and media education. Not only will these protect them and their information, it will also protect their classmates and friends from misunderstandings or potentially dangerous situations.

Core Principles of Digital Citizenship

Internet Safety vs. Digital Citizenship

While these topics are connected, they are two separate ideas. While digital citizenship curriculum is focused on how behavior and actions spread and affect others on the web and the ways students should conduct themselves as good citizens of this digital world, internet safety includes concrete do's and don'ts to protect students. Where these two concepts meet is in the spread of information, whether it's the student's own personal information or personal information about a classmate. Educators play a vital role in promoting media education for students, guiding them to become responsible and ethical digital citizens.

Internet Safety

Internet safety is crucial at every age, and it's good to start instructing students about the importance of staying safe online while they're young. In a digital age, it's important for them to understand that things don't just disappear, and they should be conscious about the information they share. Additionally, the rise of sites that allow you to compile information (like age, names, interests, potential triggers, and more) make it easier for those with bad intentions to infiltrate seemingly safe spaces. Students should be reminded that while not everyone on the internet is out to harm them, they should still be careful who they trust, just like they would in reality.

Do's

• Do use strong passwords and keep it secret. Don't make it easy for people to access your accounts!
• Do use nicknames or screen names that don't contain personal information like your name or birthday.
• Do talk to a trusted parent or guardian about the websites you are using.
• Do tell a trusted adult if you are being cyberbullied or witness cyberbullying.
• Do say no or leave a conversation if you feel uncomfortable and tell a trusted adult about it.
• Do log off of websites when you are finished with them, especially on shared or public computers.

Don'ts

• Don't give out your name, age, or location. A combination of these things can make it easy for someone to find you in real life.
• Don't publicize mental health diagnoses that people can use to purposely trigger or manipulate you.
• Don't provide information about other people's names, location, etc.
• Don't participate in memes that ask for your first car, mother's maiden name, first pet, or other information that is often used in password recovery.
• Don't talk to strangers or people you don't know.
• Don't put anything online that you wouldn't want someone to find.
• Don't click on links from people you don't know. If something looks suspicious and seems like it's from someone you know, ask a trusted adult before clicking!
• Don't venture onto sites you know you shouldn't be on. Websites have restrictions for a reason!
• Don't agree to physically meet someone online. Tell a trusted adult if someone asks you to do this.

Digital Citizenship and Safety

Digital citizenship curriculum is all about being a good citizen online, the same way you would in your school or community. Kids can practice this while they're playing online multiplayer games, chatting on social media, doing research or attending online class, or anything else they may do online! Technology can do powerful things, and it's important that learners are able to harness that power while still being empathetic citizens of the world. Sharing safety rules with students helps them understand how to protect themselves online and contribute to a positive digital community.

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Helpful Tips

• Speak up if you or someone else is being cyberbullied. Standing up for the person is the first step toward making sure others do the right thing, and a trusted adult should always be contacted.


• Understand why sites have rules about users under 13! This is to protect you and your information, ensures you aren't seeing inappropriate content, and keeps you from being advertised to.


• Check sources on news and information! Learning what a reliable source is and how to combat clickbait and misinformation will allow you to be able to better form an opinion on current events and use accurate research in papers.


• Learn about copyright and creative commons. It's important to source any images or information you use in projects, but it's also important to remember that not every image should be used freely.


• Interact with others the way you want to be treated. Be kind and thoughtful while speaking to or posting about others online. Make sure that others can't misinterpret your words or aren't hurt by them.


• Think before you post! If you wouldn't want friends, parents, teachers, or future employers to see it, keep it to yourself. Your digital footprint is permanent, whether you think so or not.

Digital Citizenship for Kids and Students

media education for kids can be tailored to various age groups to help them navigate the online world responsibly. For younger children, the focus might be on basic computer safety for kids, such as recognizing safe websites and understanding the importance of not sharing personal information. For older kids, discussions can expand to include more complex issues like managing one’s digital footprint, understanding the implications of social media use, and dealing with cyberbullying. Educators and parents should use age-appropriate strategies to instill these values.

Integrating Digital Citizenship and Internet Safety in the Classroom

One of the great challenges in teaching kids how to be safe is to safely provide them with scenarios and situations that will require wise decision making skills. It's easy to provide a list or a lecture, but teachers need to make sure that learners fully understand what it means to be safe online or how to handle tough situations before they encounter them.

Posters and Infographics

Posters and infographics can be displayed and are handy tools for conveying information in a clear and concise manner. They can be created by both teachers and students, so can be used as informational handouts or research projects.

Posters can be created to outline rules and tricks for digital safety, do's and don'ts of internet safety, or PSAs. We have an ever growing gallery of templates to choose from so that children and teachers can make the perfect poster. Infographics can display research learners did on online safety, advice on creating a strong password, or even ways to stay safe. The completed projects can be printed and hung up at school to spread awareness!

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Scenarios

Storyboard That is perfect for creating social stories. Illustrating internet safety guidelines or a situation that students might encounter helps kids more fully comprehend how their actions can help or harm. Teachers can approach this type of activity a few different ways. Ideas for scenarios can include someone leaving their account logged in on a shared device, sexting, cyberbullying, or checking sources.

One way is to make a completed scenario and walk students through the example. Then ask learners the following questions: What is happening? How did the student respond? Was what they did wrong or right? Why? This can be done as a class discussion or kids can respond individually in a short writing assignment.

Another idea is to make a scenario and leave cells blank for kids to fill in. This allows them to practice critical thinking and respond to the scenario as if they were involved. Teachers may choose to display student work afterward and hold a discussion with the class if there are any differences in answers (both right and wrong).

The next step would be to have children make their own scenario! They should illustrate a potential situation and demonstrate how to properly respond to it in order to stay safe. Teachers can ask learners to present their scenarios and explain their choices in an activity that combines creativity and presentation skills.