Be a Good Digital Citizen: Tips for Teens and Parents
Safe and responsible online behavior means being a good cyber citizen.
Omaha Town Hall Highlights
5 Essential Facts of Digital Life
- Kids are the creators. It’s all about participating; communicating; making music, images, and videos; and posting written content. And the content that’s there? Kids must be able to know whether it’s credible or not.
- Everything happens in front of a vast, invisible, and often anonymous audience.
- Once something is out there, it lasts for a long time. Everything leaves a digital footprint.
- Information cannot be controlled. Anything can be copied, changed, and shared instantly.
- Distance and anonymity separate actions and consequences. Kids think they can get away with unethical or unacceptable behavior because they don’t see immediate consequences.
Advice & Answers
With Power Comes Responsibility
In fall 2010, Common Sense Media brought its digital citizenship campaign to Omaha, Neb., in the first of many joint town hall events with MTV and the Family Violence Prevention Fund. Combining MTV's "A Thin Line" campaign with the Family Violence Prevention Fund's "That's Not Cool" initiative, the town halls are designed to generate honest discussion and open the lines of communication between parents and teens about the issues at play when growing up in a digital world. In Omaha, a panel of teens, a teacher, and a parent discussed the challenges and opportunities of living in a public and powerful online world and what it means to be a good digital citizen.
Nothing was off-limits: The panel covered everything from privacy and cyberbullying to protecting online reputation and how digital communication affects a teen’s everyday relationships.
In the video above, Omaha teens express what they love about their digital lives -- as well as what they struggle with. The Internet, texting, social networking -- these are the realities of teen life today. And while all of these things can be misused, they also have the potential for being powerful tools when used responsibly.
Digital Citizenship Tips for Teens
For teens, we offer five simple rules of digital citizenship to help them create a world they can be proud of -- and inspire others to do the same.
Think before you post or text -- a bad reputation could be just a click away. Before you press the "send" button, imagine the last person in the world that you’d want seeing what you post.
What goes around comes around. If you want your privacy respected, respect others' privacy. Posting an embarrassing photo or forwarding a friend’s private text without asking can cause unintended hurt or damage to others.
Spread heart, not hurt. If you wouldn’t say it in person, don’t say it online. Stand up for those who are bullied or harassed, and let them know that you’re there for them.
Give and get credit. We’re all proud of what we create. Illegal downloading, digital cheating, and cutting and pasting other people’s stuff may be easy, but that doesn’t make it right. You have the responsibility to respect other people’s creative work -- and the right to have your own work respected.
Make this a world you want to live in. Spread the good stuff. Create, share, tag, comment, and contribute to the online world in positive ways.
