Staying Safe As a Digital Citizen

Digital safety, something a lot of people take for granted. With our ad blockers, anti-virus programs, and firewalls, we assume that we are safe, immune to all the creepy crawlies, worms Trojan horses, etc., but the fact of the matter is that, as we become more tech savvy and further delve into a technologically driven society, so are other people; people whom intend to destroy everything you have worked for and or to erase you from existence.

            In an online article published by the Huffington Post in 2010, one statistic states that 55% of Americans use the internet daily, and in about a month, they spend nearly 60 hours online doing various activities such as participating in social media, online gaming, and other activities relating to school and or business. As such avid users of the internet, as a society, we have created a whole other culture, complete with commodities such as online shopping, banking, education, and in some countries, even online medical treatment is available, via robots and other methods. And as such, we have inadvertently created a new term for the people whom roam and almost live in the cyber world; Netizens. As defined by the online version of Merriam-Webster, a netizen is a person who actively uses the internet especially in a proper and responsible way.

        So what is the big deal about being responsible and staying safe while online? Well, for one, even if all the necessary precautions have been taken (firewalls, ad blockers, malware detectors, spyware detectors, anti-virus applications etc.,), the threat of being victimized on the internet is still 100% real. As we surf the internet, we leave tracking cookies, most of which are harmless, However, in the cases of online pharming/phishing people, also often called hackers, can obtain information about you based on the types of sites you visit. For example, credit card information, one of the most important aspects of your online identity. If compromised, the hacker could easily destroy your life either by ruining your credit and or taking your identity and making fraudulent charges you name. Another reason to consider when approaching online safet,y is that whatever you say and or do, whether intentional or not, can be and will most likely be used against you. Online bullying has become one of the most widespread problems in regards to online safety. According to a statistic taken from the i-SAFE foundation, over 25% of adolescents and teens have been bullied repeatedly through their phones and or over the internet.

(Cyberbullying PSA; Imagine if it was one of your loved ones)

(Be a friend and reach out)

            So in order to combat some of these problems, as a class we were tasked to create presentations about digital safety. As a cohesive unit, every presentation was great and informative; however a change I would make, especially when it is taught to students, would be to include texual harassment and sexting in the cyber bulling portion of the digital safety presentation. This way, it can be seen as one continuous topic that flows easily. As a lesson, as done in the class, I would prefer the students to do presentations themselves, because it gives them a chance to identify and analyze the most important information in regards to their specific topic. However, for activities I’d like to take some part in this in order to ensure that the students remain on topic, especially since elementary students have a tendency to stray from their material.

In terms of the tools that we used for our presentation on Copy Right and Fair Use, we used the tools we were already mildly familiar with and not Wiggio, although from the looks of it, we should have. Overall, I’m satisfied with the presentation we produced, and especially proud of that little storybook I created. But overall, I’m fairly satisfied with what I have learned from all the presentations, and hopefully future presentations will be even better.

References

Smith, C. (n.d.). Internet Usage Statistics: How We Spend Our Time Online (INFOGRPAHIC). Retrieved November 28,2015, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/22/internet-usuage-statistics_n_620946.html

Would you have surgery at the hands of robot? – CNN.com. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2015, from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/02/tech/da-vinci-robot-surgery/

Bullying Statistics. (n.d.) Retrieved November 28, 2015, from http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/cyber-bullying-statistics.html