What Is Digital Citizenship?

What Is Digital Citizenship? Nowadays we hear a lot about ‘digital citizenship’.  But WHAT does it refer to?  Digital citizenship is a term used to describe the behaviour skills required for acceptable engagement relating to internet activity.

It is taking a holistic approach to everything the internet encompasses, and applying appropriate behaviour to those technologies. 

There will always be something new when it comes to communication and the internet. We need to apply the same behaviour to whatever comes along, instead of treating each new change as a separate issue.  Once we can accomplish that, we are heading in the right direction.

A digital citizen: *

• ·         is a confident and capable user of ICT
• ·         uses technologies to participate in educational, cultural, and economic activities
• ·         uses and develops critical thinking skills in cyberspace
• ·         is literate in the language, symbols, and texts of digital technologies
• ·         is aware of ICT challenges and can manage them effectively
• ·         uses ICT to relate to others in positive, meaningful ways
• ·         demonstrates honesty and integrity and ethical behaviour in their use of ICT
• ·         respects the concepts of privacy and freedom of speech in a digital world
• ·         contributes and actively promotes the values of digital citizenship

One of the local schools has come up with an excellent mindmap on the subject of digital citizenship.  It includes what they call the ‘9 strands’ of digital literacy.

We are always guaranteed to see CHANGE in technology.  Helping children to understand how they can better be empowered to be confident and safer digital citizens is the best any parent can do.

* Contents taken from original article published by NetSafe here.