Digital Safety Reflection

Many teenagers now own mobile phones and other devices for keeping in touch with parents and loved ones. Once the teen receives the mobile phone, usually their first reaction is to share their excitement online. There is nothing wrong with sharing your enjoyment with others but, teens need to know what can and should not be shared with strangers through the web. Authors Wand and Xing (2018) shares that, “Parents hope that their children will be able to learn what they need and differentiate what is right and what is wrong”. However, without the basic knowledge of internet safety, children will not be aware of the consequences of their actions.  This presentation was to educate students and about the dangers of wrong browsing and careless posting.

Retrieved from Google

While doing the research for this topic, I was bit surprised with some of the information I found and felt overwhelmed at the same time. I knew that sexting was very common among teens but the numbers that I found were high. I found many statistics regarding sexting but, had a hard time finding statistics of cases on island. When putting together my presentation, I was not sure which information I should put and if the presentation I put together was enough to talk about. Sexting and textual harassment cases were similar to cyber bullying but, I did not want to stray too far from my topic.

The topics that were presented fit cohesively because, cyber bullying is a consequence of someone who commits sexting and it is almost the same as textual harassment. Copyright and Phishing are both taking something from the original creator. The four topics that were presented are issues that happen all the time online and it is always good that people are aware of the harmful things that goes on online. The topic I learned most about was copyright and fair user because, sometimes including a soundtrack to your presentation is tricky.

I know that there was one topic that was not discussed which was internet safety and privacy. Upon doing my research, I stumbled across an article regarding “digital footprint” which is a trail you leave online. This is a danger because, when you visit a website, the web server can log your IP address which identifies your service provider. I wanted to see if this topic of digital footprint can be incorporated with internet safety and privacy.

Retrieved from Google

    When I do become a teacher, some ways how I would design this topic into a lesson is just talk to my students about the dangers lurking on the internet. I would make my students watch short clips of some consequences that can happen with sexting. For phishing and pharming, I would teach my students some examples of which website is fake and real.

Doing this project made me more causes about what personal information to put online and that is acceptable to be shared with others and being careful with some websites. “As teachers, being aware of these issues is important but not enough. It’s our responsibility to keep our students safe and gently show them how to do the right thing, whether it is in the classroom, school yard or the internet” (The importance of Cyber Safety and Digital Citizenship,2015). As a future educator, I learned how crucial it is to teach children and teens about the importance of internet safety.

Reference

Wang, X., & Xing, W. (2018). Exploring the Influence of Parental Involvement and Socioeconomic Status on Teen Digital Citizenship: A Path Modeling Approach. Retrieved from https://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=10e4488d-d69b-437b-b1c3-e127f4f81670%40pdc-v-sessmgr03

Ericksen, K. (2018, May 16). Your Digital Footprint: What is it and how can you Manage it? Retrieved December 7, 2018, from Rasmussen College website: https://www.rasmussen.edu/student-experience/college-life/what-is-digital-footprint/

The importance of Cyber Safety and Digital Citizenship. (2015, April 29) Retrieved from Stile Education. [Blog Post]

Website: https://blog.stileeducation.com/stileeducation-blog/2015/4/29/free-cyber-safety-and-digital-citizens-lessons