PBIS: Digital Citizenship

Sample Lesson - Introduction

Lesson 1.01: Sharing is Scary

 

Wake up, George. This is real life. (Source)

George walked into the subway car and immediately scoffed at all the illuminated blue-white faces that surrounded him. "It's like I'm living in The Matrix," he thought to himself. "You can come out now, Keanu Reeves!" He chuckled at his own lame joke that he would forget in a matter of minutes. No one else would ever hear it.

As George made his way out of the car ten minutes later, he bumped into a young woman with blue hair who, admittedly, was not paying attention to where she was walking. Her eyes were glued to her phone, and she had earphones tucked snugly into her ears.

In response, George hissed, "How about you rejoin the human race?" The woman with blue hair neither heard nor saw him. She was too busy listening to a podcast about the history of fountain drinks while simultaneously wishing her friend luck on her Ethnic Studies exam via text message.

This was all getting to be too much for George. He took a long, hard look at the bustling crowd on the subway platform. Then he shook his head self-righteously at everyone who was plugged into their digital devices—which, incidentally, was everyone. "Doesn't anyone know what it's like to be human anymore?" George cried to the heavens, overdramatically shaking his fists.

Sorry, George. This lesson (and all the lessons after it) isn't for people like you. But if you, reading this, are like us, then you're a digital citizen of the internet. Congratulations on keeping up with, you know, everyone and everything around you.

Unbeknownst to all the Georges out there, digital citizenship—like regular citizenship—comes with its own issues that require certain codes of conduct. This lesson will lay the foundation for the conversations we'll be having about digital citizenship in the rest of this unit. That's right, we'll be talking about your online presence.

So close your other tabs and increase the brightness on your laptop screen. We need at least half of your divided attention.

Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 1.1.01: Sharing is Scary

People can deny this all they want, but it's true: a lot of our life exists on the internet. People pay their bills, buy their groceries, watch movies, have social lives, and much, much more—all online. The only thing we don't do online is take up physical space, which is also pretty important…for now.

There's a lot to be said about our new digital lives, but we're going to focus on one part: how information is shared—especially how your information is shared.

Online Identity

You have an online presence. You can be looked up. The next time you're on the computer (cough, cough), try Googling yourself. Maybe include where you live to narrow down the search. Go ahead. We'll wait.

Shocked? You should be. Think of how we felt when we Googled our name. Like, there's an entire website about us. Yikes.

Now think back to who you were five years ago. Are you okay with all the stuff you posted, or would've posted, online back then? Those planking pics, those Angry Birds scores, those Selena Gomez lyrics? Now think ahead five years. Would you want your future employer to read what you're posting now? What about your tagged photos, or check-ins, or liked pages?

If that all makes you want to fling your laptop out the window and start living in a cave (with no WiFi, mind you), we don't blame you. Why, back in the day, if you had just come out of an embarrassing vampire-goth phase you wanted to leave completely behind (just us?), all you had to do was burn all the polaroids and move to a place where no one knew you.

Not anymore, Shmooper. A simple Google search would reveal everything.

And the Golden Rule of Las Vegas doesn't apply with the digital world: what happens on the internet does not always stay on the internet.

For example…

• Employers can fire or discriminate against employees based off what they post online.
• Students can be expelled or suspended based off what they post online.
• Old photos or posts that get deleted on social media are not actually gone.
• Incriminating photos or posts can and will be used against you.

You might already know all that, but it's worth mentioning because it still happens. Be more conscientious about what you post online.

Online Interactions

Part of your online identity includes how you react to information. So who are you online? Are you that combative contrarian who asks why people aren't discussing this instead of that? Or maybe you exclusively post adorable videos of baby raccoons?

Maybe you're a voice in the chorus of cries that demands something be done about important social issues—which, despite what the cynics say, does work. Just not directly.

It's up to you. We're not judging.

Still, it's your responsibility as a citizen of the digital world to be aware of what you contribute to our new online society. We'll cover that in the next lessons.

But first, a quiz.

Sample Lesson - Activity