Students & The Internet

I think that it is extremely important, and more relevant now than ever, for students to learn about personal online safety and the implications that come with posting their personal information, or things that could effect their future employment. I never learned about how to safely browse and post to the internet in school, and learning this information would have been beneficial to know as I started social media when I got older. Students should learn what is acceptable to post online and how posting certain things or communicating with people that they may not know can be dangerous and affect them in ways that are not obvious at first. I think that 4–5th grade would be a good grade for students to begin learning the basic concepts of online safety because children are starting to get phones and are using social media at such a young age, so I feel like 4–5th grade is a time where they can begin to understand the basic principles and dos and don’ts of the internet. Further, as they get older they should continue to learn more in depth concepts such as strong password creation, privacy settings, and that what they post online can create a digital footprint that follows them forever.

The TED Talk, What Do Your Digital Footprints Say About You? by Nicola Osborne, discusses once you put something out on the internet it is hard to get back, and even if you delete something, there is a possibility of it still existing because someone else has shared it or saved it before you deleted it. This is important for students to learn because once they put something on the internet it might be there to stay and there is not much they can do about it. I want my students to understand the implications of posting inappropriate content on social media because it could effect their college admissions as well as their future employment.

With the growing number of children becoming active on social media such as Snapchat, TikTok, and Youtube, at younger ages than ever, we must teach them the safest ways to use these apps. If we begin to teach students about internet safety and model it for them at a young age, they will have ample time to practice safe browsing and how to appropriately post on social media.