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Media Literacy

Media Literacy is necessary for Digital Citizenship because it allows people to access, evaluate and create media. With media literacy, people have the ability to read or write anything online and can consume as much information as they want. This is useful for people with jobs that require them to find/consume information every day about a certain topic, as all the information is online! When using media literacy there are two important elements that are important to be media literate online. These individuals must know how to be wise consumers and to deliberate message contributors. In Digital Citizenship people follow the rules and have respect for one another online so individuals need to have proper respect for each other and themselves. In discussing Media Literacy people need to be smart consumers when analyzing all the media online and be polite in any type of interaction.

○ Some of these interactions in media literacy include social interactions, political discussions and even campaigns when people are arguing about who should be victorious. An example of bad media literacy would be Donald Trump because he is always tweeting negative comments and starting arguments around the world because of his actions.

○ Also, to achieve media literacy you have to use various media to share your opinions and ideas about any issues or topics being discussed in creative ways online. The more people share their opinions and evaluate media to the fullest, polite and most responsible way then Digital Citizenship will be achieved.

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Harmful Content

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.

○ If you remain to follow the social norms of digital citizenship and respect the rules you will be fine and will be almost immune to the harmful content.

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Sexting

►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/

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Digital Etiquette

When trying to understand etiquette in digital citizenship it is important to know that etiquette is the polite behavior in society and accepted social behaviors that are in the norms of society. Digital Etiquette is important because it includes the formal/informal rules of conduct for certain interactions that people deal with online every day. When using digital communication people need to understand the social norms and be respectful online as well as follow all the other core principles when having conversations or posting on social media. When students and adults are online it is important that they have awareness of these core principles and behave with polite behavior that will teach these students to grow up with strong etiquette online and offline. If people used social media or any online websites and acted more like their real-life self it would much easier to achieve this etiquette as most people are very polite/friendly in face to face communications.

►Treating people with respect and how they would like to be treated in digital citizenship is necessary for a change to be made on digital etiquette of everyone.

https://digcitutah.com/etiquette/

Digital Security

► Even though exploring the internet may seem like a never-ending world of information filled with entertainment, there are many things that can go wrong, leading to leakage of all your personal information.

► It is so easy nowadays for children to be lured into clickbait in which their personal technology can become infected with viruses or other harmful content such as spam, malware, and data loss. Most teenagers and adults these days know how to avoid these types of harmful content considering we grew up in the early stages of the technological revolution, so we are used to the content that we are exposed to.

► It is our responsibility to enforce these security practices on children in order to protect their information from any creepy hackers so they can identify scary people out there in the world that want to get ahold of their personal information. What if you were the one whose child’s information was leaked because of poor security?

https://digcitutah.com/security/

Your digital footprint is always growing - so how can you keep it under control?

Your digital footprint is important, and many people don’t know the scope of what it means. This article does a great job of going into depth about your digital footprint!

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This video provides tips and facts about staying safe on the Internet!

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Digital Ethics

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.

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Digital Safety

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/

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Digital Literacy

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/

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Digital Footprint

☞ 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

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Cyberbullying

💡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!

https://blogs.absolute.com/good-digital-citizenship-education-defuses-cyberbullying/

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Positive Examples of Digital Citizenship

➠ When looking at examples of positive digital citizenship, many students across the country have found ways to incorporate acts of digital kindness into their daily lives.

➠ This not only teaches them how to act more sophisticated on social media, but sets a president for the future of the online world. In Utah, countless acts of digital citizenship have radiated positivity through many students. In the link below, you can see efforts from making social media pages for lunch tables to positive Twitter feeds in school coming from local communities in Utah.

➠ These ideas are not only shaping the youth to make a difference in the online community and the world, but use social-media space for good and to make a change.

https://digcitutah.com/digital-citizenship-kids/

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This infographic by ISTE.org highlights what it means to be a good citizen, supported by statistics. It’s important to note that 88% of teens who use social media have witnessed someone being mean or cruel.

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What exactly is digital citizenship? This video provides a more in-depth explanation.

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What Is Digital Citizenship?

⇾ Digital Citizenship can be most commonly looked at as the quality of responses, patterns, and self-monitored participation in a digital community

⇾ When exploring the concept of being a “digital citizen”, we must first look at how society today runs on a strictly online-based world. From social media to online messaging, blogs, magazines, etc. the opportunity to interact and associate with the online world is endless. Now, that all these special “opportunities” are in place for children and adults all around the world, how do we know exactly how to handle them? That’s where digital citizenship comes into place. We must take a role and commit to a certain digital standard to promote online safety and the best experience possible when interacting with others online.

⇾ Overall, what you say, do, and post about online is there forever and cannot be erased. Making the decision to publish your thoughts and ideas for the cyber world is very important as you do not know who will see/read these thoughts and publish them for ever more people to see. In today’s society, we have seen many negatives come out of the “online world” especially dating back to teens and young adults. Incidents involving cyberbullying, cyberstalking, revealing personal information, cat-fishing, copyright issues, etc. have struck the country hard and have made it known that we are nowhere near completely educated on how dangerous the online world really is.

⇾ Teaching the youth and reinforcing concepts of how to act online and present yourself to ensure safety are imperative to the future of our online society. All in all, digital citizenship ensures that double-checking how you act online and with others in a social space will allow for a much safer and enjoyable online experience.

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