For the second year, Union County Public Schools has rolled out over 24,000 Lenovo Chromebooks to students for classroom use. While it is important that students have fair and equitable access to technology, it is also extremely important that students know how to be safe and responsible with their devices. UCPS adheres to federal laws and policies in order to keep students safe online, but our students must also assume personal responsibility in being good digital citizens. Here are seven ways parents and teachers can help our young men and women make good decisions in their use of technology:
1. Think Ink
People talk about their “digital footprint,” but this isn’t an accurate term. Footprints fade over time or are washed away by the tide. Your online persona is more like a tattoo - there’s permanence in the internet, and a soiled online persona, like an ugly tattoo, is difficult and painful to remove. Make kids aware that “the internet is forever,” and help them cultivate a positive online persona. Think carefully about every post, every picture, every video - do you want this “tattoo” or not? My grandfather used to advise us to live in such a way that our name didn’t show up in the papers. I think the advice for kids today would be to keep your online activity above board so you’re not embarrassed by a Google search.
2. No Such Thing as Privacy Online
We all operate under the comforting delusion that an email to a friend is private or that a text or picture over Snapchat is safely deleted, but we live in a copy, paste, and share world. Look at how easily and quickly videos, tweets, and memes go viral. Our kids need to understand that anything sent digitally can be copied or captured and then shared. The bottom line is that if you want an aspect of your private life to stay private, do not put it online in any form and do not send it to anyone, even someone you think you trust.
3. Give Credit Where it’s Due
There are 347 new blog posts in Wordpress and 571 new websites created every minute. That’s a ton of new information, and with so much information so readily available, it becomes increasingly difficult for kids (and adults, honestly) to give accurate credit to their sources. But even though this information is not published in a book, it is still someone’s intellectual property, and your intellectual property is protected by copyright as soon as you write it down. It’s important for kids to know how to find and correctly cite online information and how to license their creations as well to protect themselves from plagiarism. Teachers and parents should encourage kids to cite everything they use, even images, and understand copyright and licensing rules and terms.
4. Be Kind Online
It’s a bit of a paradox, but because the internet is such a public place with such a high volume of information swirling around, we become more anonymous. Anonymity makes it easy for us to say things online we wouldn’t say in person. Our online conversations, if we aren’t careful, become frank, even rude, and sometimes downright mean. Encourage kids to be as honest and kind in their online conversations as they are in their personal ones. Good communication skills are always important no matter the platform.
5. Separate Work and Play
If you have a phone or a laptop or even an email that is for work, you are expected not to use that device for personal activities. The Chromebooks UCPS has purchased are meant for students to access information and complete activities and create projects for school. It is extremely important that parents and teachers work together to drive this concept home for our kids, that the device they are issued is for school use only. Understanding and adhering to this very simple rule not only mitigates discipline issues, but it also helps cultivate good working habits for our young men and women as they transition into the working world.
6. Know Their World
Who are your kid’s friends on Facebook? Do they have accounts with Reddit, Tickld, or Tumbler? Whom do they follow on Twitter? What are their favorite channels on YouTube? Who are they connecting with while they are playing video games? When we were kids, our parents knew the people we played with in our neighborhood, but our children are members of a vast and mostly invisible community. It is vital that we ask them to share the details of that community with us, so we can help them be safe within it, and knowing where they go when they’re online is crucial.
7. Lead by Example
The very best thing we can do to teach children to be good digital citizens is to model good citizenship. This means that we make sure our work and our personal accounts are separated, even if it means doing personal things on a different device. We strive to be diplomatic and positive in our online communication. We talk and talk and talk with our kids about the importance of privacy, responsibility, and kindness. We keep reminding them that they are building, even at this age, a permanent reputation with every keystroke.
In order to find more information about online safety and ethics, please visit commonsensemedia.org. This online community of writers and advocates have compiled wonderful information for parents and educators about online safety, educational strategies, and reviews of apps and software for all ages.
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