As a high school teacher, I have witnessed firsthand the power of social media among my students.  Social media itself is neither good nor evil. As with many things in modern society, it is how we choose to use it that counts.  It can be a tool employed to educate and to organize positive action, and it can be a weapon wielded to hurt others.

I admit to sometimes feeling powerless in the face of the societal pressures that confront my students daily.  Although I am not a significant consumer of social media myself, I admit to checking in on Facebook a few times each day.  While I log on to see what my family and friends are doing and to see the latest pictures of their children and pets, I also find myself confronted with angry posts, not directed at myself – I will not tolerate that toxicity in my life – but at public figures including actors, politicians, and reality personalities.  I cannot help but think: If this is what responsible adults are posting, what do my students see when they check their feeds on Instagram and other social networking sites?

Educators have a professional and ethical responsibility to instruct students in the appropriate use of technology and its pitfalls, including social media.  It sometimes seems like a losing battle, however. I talk to my students about developing a positive digital footprint, but their social media feeds communicate that it is socially acceptable to tear people down online.  As Monica Lewinsky discussed in her TEDTalk, there are entire industries that have developed whose purpose is to earn money through the humiliation of others – especially celebrities – by posting their dirty laundry online (TED, 2015).  We, as a society, excuse it, and thereby condone it. It is not surprising, therefore, that our children consider us hypocrites when we tell them that cyberbullying is not acceptable.

Going back to Lewinsky’s TEDTalk again, I was inspired by her suggestion that a societal movement is necessary to change the way that American society views the use of social media (TED, 2015).  As mentioned in the book Bullying: Beyond the Schoolyard, the vast majority of school-aged adolescents are using social media appropriately (Hinduja and Patchin, 2015).  What we hear about in the media, however, are those who make hurtful choices when it comes to their Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook posts.  The sensational is more newsworthy than the sensible. Our children see this, and because they want to be “liked,” quite a few leave a negative digital footprint in their wake with cruel posts and comments.

Perhaps it is time for the silent majority of the public to become the vocal majority.  We need to spread the word that technology should be used to inspire instead of intimidate.  We need to silence those who choose to spread hate and hurt online by making it socially unacceptable to do so. Personally, given the choice, I would rather live in a world that focuses on the positive as opposed to one that trades in the negative.

References

Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2015). Bullying beyond the schoolyard: Preventing and responding to cyberbullying (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

TED. (2015, March 20). The price of shame: Monica Lewinsky [Video file].  Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_8y0WLm78U

The Internet has made the exchange of information easier and more efficient.  When encountering a cultural or historical question that I cannot answer, I have frequently asked my students to look it up on their phones.  For the most part, there is no longer a need to go to the library to find information in a reference book. The most up-to-date information is available online.

The ease with which students can find information online and the facility with which they can copy and paste that information into research papers and presentations has reinforced the importance of teaching them about proper use and documentation of what they find online.  Each time I assign a research project of any sort, there will inevitably be several students who copy and paste information or images from the internet, either from lack of knowledge or laziness. Do they not realize that it is just as easy for me to copy and paste their text into a Google search as it is for them to copy and paste it from an internet site?

The reality is that today’s high school students have grown up with an exchange of information that was unknown to previous generations of students.  When you have to open a book and take notes from it, most students recognize that they need to attribute that information to the author. However, many of my students seem to believe that information found on the internet is either common knowledge or free to use and present as one’s own.

As educators, it is our duty to help our students learn the skills that they need to avoid the legal and ethical pitfalls of failing to use and cite their sources appropriately.  We need to introduce them to Creative Commons sites like pixabay.com, where they can use images without concern for licensing. We should provide examples of paraphrasing and opportunities to practice this skill.  I have encountered many students who believe that merely changing a few words is adequate to make the language their own. They do not realize that they are still culpable of plagiarizing, even if they cite the source appropriately.  We should be offering ongoing chances to put paraphrasing to work across content areas.

Citing sources must also be an important part of all curricular areas.  Students today have the benefit of online applications such as EasyBib and Noodle Tools that will create the citations for them if they enter the information correctly.  Students need to be reminded to keep an ongoing list of the resources that they are using as they do their research. I have encountered many students who try to create their “Works Cited” after they have completed their project.  They have no idea which sites they have used, and their list of sources is essentially fiction.

Finally, students need to be able to evaluate the quality of the sources that they are using.  It is tempting to choose the first websites that result from a Google search, but often they are not the best that students could choose.  They may have erroneous information or express opinions instead of facts. Students should be taught how to determine the value of a site for themselves.

If students do not cite their sources or use their research with proper attribution, there could be very real consequences for them as they continue through their education and professional lives.  Schools need to ensure that students have the information that they need and the skill set necessary to navigate the legal and ethical issues related to copyright infringement and plagiarism. 

As a high school teacher, I am acutely aware that social media is an important part of my students’ lives.  Having grown up in the 1980s and 1990s, I have always used a variety of methods to communicate with my family and friends – telephone calls, email, letters, etc.  However, for most of my students, these means of communications are as archaic as the eight-track cassette was for me. They have had access to various forms of social media almost from the time they were able to type with two thumbs, so the idea of making an actual phone call seems pointless when they could just message the other person. We need not even mention the possibility of sending a letter in the mail!

Among my high school students, social media is also the way that they express their opinions and seek approval by their peers.  I teach many intelligent, creative students who use social media in a positive, appropriate way to share their work, talents, and ideas with the community. Unfortunately, however, there are also many students who use social media in a way that is hurtful toward others.  They post opinions that they would never say to someone in person, but because they are behind a screen, they feel somehow protected. The reality is that rude comments are just as hurtful when posted on the internet as they are when spoken. In fact, they may be more so.  If a student makes a snide remark to another student in the hallway, perhaps only a handful of students overhear the comment. When one student posts a cruel rumor about another student online, however, that comment may be shared multiple times until a large portion of the school population is aware of it.

When I look at the teenagers in my high school, I see so much potential and promise for our world.  Unfortunately, I also see many young people who are either unaware or do not care about the potential harm they are doing when they post rude comments or rumors about others on social media.  They may think that what they post is funny and they may celebrate the number of likes that they receive, but they may also be unaware of the digital footprint that they are leaving behind. There are things that I said and did as a teenager that I would never want my employers or my students to know about today.  Fortunately for me, there is no lasting record of my teenage years! For today’s students, however, the posts that they make will never truly disappear, even after they have deleted them.

If we want today’s teenagers to grow into responsible contributing members of society whose past does not follow them forever, it is essential that they learn about the effects that their digital footprints have on their future opportunities.  I believe that this education needs to begin in early elementary school. If students begin to reflect upon the consequences of their actions when they are young, perhaps we can help to build a kinder society.

The reality of education today is that teachers are frequently called upon to teach students more than content. Teachers are asked to help students become contributing members of the community.  As technology resources proliferate, especially among young people, there is a need for teachers to help students understand the value of the digital resources at their disposal as well as the appropriate way to conduct themselves when using these resources.  Consequently, teachers often find themselves weaving the lessons of digital citizenship into the subject matter that they are teaching.

In his book Digital Citizenship in Schools: Nine Elements all Students Should Know, Mike Ribble (2015) states, “The concept of digital citizenship, then, reinforces the positive aspects of technology so that everyone can work and play in this digital world” (location 331).  Ribble (2015) breaks the concept of digital citizenship into nine elements:

• Digital access
• Digital commerce
• Digital communication
• Digital literacy
• Digital etiquette
• Digital law
• Digital rights and responsibilities
• Digital health and wellness
• Digital security

He categorizes these elements into three groups:  respect, educate, and protect (Ribble, 2015). While Ribble’s ideas of digital citizenship are broad enough for today and to take us into the future, he was not the first to bring this concept to light.  Moor’s (1985) definition of computer ethics is “the analysis of the nature and social impact of computer technology and the corresponding formulation and justification of policies for the ethical use of such technology” (p. 7).  Although he did not use the term “digital citizenship,” Moor’s definition encompasses the same overarching themes of personal and societal responsibility. Finally, the CHARACTER COUNTS! program developed by the Josephson Institute of Ethics outlines six pillars of digital citizenship – trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship – that allow individuals to participate in various aspects of society in a positive manner (Ribble, 2015).

Reflecting upon what I have read and learned about digital citizenship, I have developed my own definition of this concept:

Being a good digital citizen means choosing to use technology in a responsible manner to be a positive change agent in one’s own life and the larger community while recognizing and actively combating misuse of technology.  Furthermore, a good digital citizen seeks opportunities to minimize the digital divide to allow for more equitable access to technology in society.

As teachers, we are all digital citizens to some extent.  Some of us may only use technology to enter grades and respond to emails while others are proficient users of social media both in and beyond the classroom.  As Ribble (2015) explains, “Good digital citizens work to help create a society of users who help others learn how to use technology appropriately” (location 487-493).  We have both an opportunity and a responsibility as educators to help our students develop a better understanding of what is appropriate and what is not with regard to their use of digital resources both in and beyond the classroom.

As I have watched cell phones, tablets, and laptop computers inundate our classrooms, I have seen the advantages that they offer for affording new and more engaging learning experiences.  However, these tools can only accomplish these goals if students are using them in a positive manner. Students need to think about the short term and long term consequences of how they use technology.  While we, as adults, may think that this should be self-evident, the reality is that this is not the case. Our students need our ongoing guidance and modeling to become good digital citizens.

References

Moor, J. H. (1985). What is computer ethics? Metaphilosophy, 16(4), 266-275.

Ribble, M. (2015). Digital citizenship in schools: Nine elements all students should know (3rd ed.) [Kindle Book].