Why Children Need a Good Digital Community to Become Good Digital Citizens

Originally published on PBS MediaShift

When kids as young as five years-old receive their first mobile devices, who better to teach them how to use the technology responsibly than their parents? It’s just one of many parenting responsibilities, like teaching healthy eating habits, good study habits and good manners. But what happens when kids begin and continue their online journeys outside of their parents’ purview or homes? It’s not uncommon now for young school-aged children to be utilizing technology this way: using a math app in the classroom, watching a video on their grandparents’ iPad or playing a game on an Xbox at a friend’s house.

The ubiquity of Internet-connected devices in a child’s life starting at younger ages and continuing as they grow has made teaching kids to be good digital citizens more paramount than ever. The two-fold question is: how do we do this, and whose job is it?

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