Parents...PLEASE Demonstrate Good Digital Citizenship

I was checking out Facebook the other day and was catching up with a few folks that I hadn't visited with in quite some time. As I was looking over my News Feed, I saw a few things that I just can't be quiet about any more. You see, in my line of work, we spend a lot of time teaching students how to be good digital citizens. If you are not familiar with the term digital citizenship, let me explain it to you. Digital Citizenship is the norms of appropriate, responsible technology use. Unfortunately, when you take a look at your Facebook page, I'd be willing to bet that you will find people who are not practicing good digital citizenship. I would take it a step further by saying that you have probably at one point or another "unfriended" someone or hid someone's posts from your timeline because they are not practicing good digital citizenship.

Education of our children is not just the school's job. Anyone that has regular contact with young people is educating them, whether it be a formal classroom setting or an informal setting using social media. Kids are very perceptive and will mimic what they see and hear. If you find it imperative that you air your dirty laundry out on the web to anyone that will listen, don't be surprised if your children end up doing the same thing. If you don't lock down your Facebook page and enact privacy settings, don't be surprised if your children follow suit. If you don't practice the same digital citizenship that you preach to your child, don't expect them to practice it either.

It is time that we (schools and parents) work together collaboratively on teaching digital citizenship and practicing what we preach. Take a look at your own use of social media and find out if you have any questionable material on your site that you wouldn't want your own children to mimic. Let's work together to clean up social media for our kids. Tell all of your friends to respect the norms of appropriate, responsible technology.