Digital Citizen Day
It’s Media Literacy Week and October 26, 2022 is the first annual Digital Citizen Day!
What does it mean to be a digital citizen?
“Digital citizenship is the ability to navigate our digital environments in a way that’s safe and responsible and to actively and respectfully engage in these spaces.” – MediaSmarts
How we should act and behave in the digital world is not always clear to us, and especially not to children. We need to learn how to be safe, smart and effective online. Digital citizenship includes rights and responsibilities for living and interacting in the digital world.
Mike Ribble explains that digital citizenship includes three guiding principles: Safe, Savvy and Social.
Safe – Protect yourself and protect others. When digital tools are not fully understood, lapses in judgment can occur.
Saavy – Educate yourself and educate others. Have a good understanding of the technologies you use to make good judgments.
Social – Respect yourself and respect others. This can include topics such as cyberbullying, viewing or posting inappropriate content or plagiarism. Interacting with others online has real-world consequences.
These three principles, and the many other topics that arise from them, are important aspects of being a good digital citizen. For more, check out the digitalcitizenship.net website.
“Whether it’s checking the information we see online, thinking critically about the media we’re consuming or being aware on how we interact with others online, digital media literacy touches every aspect of our digital lives.” – Kathryn Ann Hill, Executive Director at MediaSmarts
Events
Join the conversation on digital citizenship with The Walrus Talks at Home: Digital Citizenship October 26 at 7:00 pm (ET), as well as two research-based events held earlier in the day.
For help with teaching digital citizenship, check out the resources below.
Resources
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