Digital Citizenship (PYP Year 5B)

Digital citizenship is the responsible, ethical, and safe use of technology to engage with society, requiring users to behave with empathy, respect, and awareness both online and offline. It involves protecting personal data, evaluating information critically, and upholding positive, legal behaviors across digital platforms.

The ways of how to become a good digital citizen are as follows:

1. Protect your privacy and security:

Strong passwords and keeping your personal information safe

There are many types of privacy, like digital privacy. Privacy is very important and you should not share it or disclose our private information. Remember   to create a strong password, use a unique phrase or string of at least 16 characters that combines uppercase/lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols also remember to like avoid personal info, dictionary words, and reusing passwords across sites.

Utilize a password manager to generate and store them safely. 

You should also keep a 2-step verification to not let anyone know your password. Your account should be linked with your email so   if someone tries to log in, they will let you know and make sure it is you. (e. g [email protected]). Also, an example of a strong password is, Shliki177PMION, you should also not go to unknown websites or links because they might contain hacks or viruses. Even if you accidentally download one virus you can download antivirus apps that can remove the viruses. Don’t leak your personal information on the internet because hackers might hack you and you will lose your account.

2.    Practice respectful behavior:

Practice respectful behavior by keeping language respectful. Avoid saying swear words or phrases that can be entertained as harmful language. You should also be respectful so people don’t get upset you should also not dox other (doxing is when you hack into to someone’s account and then leak it to the internet).

Do not cyber bully someone on the internet as it is a big reason students think of committing suicide as it allows the bullies to say anything to their prey. We have to avoid cyber bullying and maintain respect. Remember to not cyber bully and keep bullies out by reporting them or telling an adult. We should also avoid writing rude or negative comments on others post if we do not have anything good to comment, we can just ignore their post rather giving rude or negative comments.

3.    Be a responsible creator and consumer

Being a respectful creator and consumer revolves around empathy, transparency, and fostering a positive, inclusive community. It requires treating others—whether developers or fellow players—with dignity, acknowledging that a real person exists behind every screen, gamer tag, and line of code.

When you are a creator online you have to be respectable and appropriate so you do not get hated by other people. If you get hated on the internet going outside will be an issue. Because people might think bad about you and will not include you in their friend circle.

Acting with kindness and patience is one of the most important things in digital media. Be humble and gentle and respect others point of view. Trying to copy others ideas is going to affect you in the future, so don’t copy others work without giving any credit. This will lead to Copyright issues. Moreover, if you do not like anyone’s post, refrain yourself from giving any rude or negative comments in their post. You can just ignore their post and move on!

4.    Maintaining health and balance

We need to keep our balance between our personal life and social media life. We have to also do our homework, go to school, do all of our daily things, and after all of that, then we start using social media that’s up to not more than 3 hours. Basically, we need to set a screen time for every day.

In order to do so, you can follow these tips:

Structure Your Time

• Set Time Limits: Establish strict daily or weekly time limits for gaming sessions. Use alarms to signal when to stop.
• Prioritize Responsibilities: Complete work, chores, and study before turning on the console or PC.
• Use the 20-20-20 Rule: To prevent eye strain, every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
• Take Frequent Breaks: Step away from the screen for at least 5-10 minutes every hour to stretch and move. 

Too much screen time can affect your eyes. We should treat screen time like nutrition. Too much of it can lead to less time with family and friends.