Most student are of the mentality that they are safe online--that nothing is going to happen to them--that they are too smart to get taken advantage of online. But no one is as safe as they might think they are. Even as and adult with all the safeguards you can still get your identity stolen. Children and young adults are not nearly as careful with their personal information and can easily get themselves into trouble on the internet. Some schools across the country have begun integrating online safety into their computer, library, or classroom curriculum but it is not mandated and this is a big problem.
Students are unknowingly exposing themselves to potential predators through their internet habits. ABC News reports that even online gaming, which is extremely popular with students, has now become a virtual playground for predators. The gamers believe that they are talking to other people their age and are lured into a false sense of trust where they give away small details which eventually can lead a predator right to them. Safety needs to be our #1 priority when our students use the internet, just as it is when they enter our classrooms each day. We have locks on our schools, on our classroom doors, we practice lock down, lock out, and stay put drills every month so that our students know what to do if there is an intruder in our school; we practice fire drills and weather drills to train them in what to do if there is another emergency. We need to employ the same sense of the proactive with regards to digital citizenship and it needs to be mandated that every school provide this type of education for students before even one more student goes missing.
Internet safety is only one aspect of digital citizenship though. Another important aspect is preventing piracy in our download-happy society. There are dozens of file sharing programs available and students are more adept at getting around web filters to use them everyday. File sharing programs can download viruses and other malware and cause thousands of dollars worth of damage. Stealing music, movies, and artwork by downloading it has a very real effect on the artists and other people associated with the work. Students may lack the ability to see the effects that their online actions can have on others, but by mandating a comprehensive digital citizenship program we can ensure that students at least have all of the information to consider before making decisions about their online actions.
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