This week, I was able to look at different research statistics. I have had technology in my hands since the seventh grade, which was my first (flip) phone, and I have never put technology down since. From the time that I had my first phone to now, times sure have changed, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic. All of a sudden we were in classrooms and now we are online. We will go back to the classrooms one day, but the technologies that we have learned to use will carry over into our “toolbox” forever. However, since technology has grown, we need to make sure we are teaching our students about digital citizenship. Common Sense Media has provided a full curriculum for digital citizenship and different research on media. Teaching Digital Citizens in Today’s World talks about digital citizenship and kids with digital media.
As I was looking through the report from Common Sense Media, I was really shocked about how many children use devices. According to James, Weinstein, & Mendoza, in 2011 from ages 0-8 years old, 41% of children had a smartphone in their home, 8% of children had a tablet in the home, and less than 1% of children had their own tablet. I was not too shocked about the 95% of homes had smartphones and 78% of homes had a tablet in 2017. The percentage that I find very shocking is that in 2017, 42% of children from ages 0-8 had their own tablet. In 2020, I am sure that this percentage is higher because of remote learning. I find it hard to believe that small children have their own device, but do they really know how to use it? Another aspect of the report was that from 2011 to 2017, the media time for children at the ages of 0-8 years old has gone from only five minutes a day and increased to forty-eight minutes a day.
After I was looking at the children from ages 0-8 years old, I then moved onto tweens (8-12 years old) and teens (13-18 years old). For this data I was not as surprised as I was for the children who were 0-8 years old. Tweens have a daily screen time average of about six hours a day. Teens spend about nine hours a day for their screen time. I found the following statement very interesting:
“By the time they're teenagers in America, 95 percent of children will have their own mobile device and will, on average, spend almost nine hours a day texting, playing games, posting to social media, watching videos, and more (Rideout & Robb, 2018). As tweens and teens move into the middle and high school years, they have ongoing, 24/7 access to friends and peers via apps and mobile devices, with 45 percent of teens saying they're online "almost constantly"(Anderson & Jiang, 2018).”
Deep down, I knew that teens did not value face to face communication with friends because of texting and social media. I was once that teen, however, when I went to college for my Bachelor’s Degree, I really valued my face-to-face time. The texting and social media was just a bonus. However, I did find it interesting that teens thought they were being manipulated by tech companies. 72% of teens believed that the tech companies manipulated users to spend more time on their devices. (James, Weinstein, & Mendoza, 2019) I think why I am so surprised was because 72% of teens is such a large majority of teenagers. I also thought that not too many teens were paying attention to what tech companies were really doing to their phones.
On the internet, there can be content that is unsuitable for young children and the overall screen time is increasing. This can be worrisome to parents and educators. For older students, the content and screen time are still an issue, but parents also worry about who their children are speaking to online. There are so many people using the internet that anyone can be talking to someone who they think is “safe”, but really it is NOT safe.
As educators it is so important to teach our students about digital citizenship. Digital citizenship is the responsible use of technology to learn, create, and participate (James, Weinstein, & Mendoza, 2019) and can be further explained in this video. Students, mostly tweens and teens, want to make their digital footprint and post nonymously. This means that students are more likely to be tied to their real identity on the internet. Especially when posting pictures of themselves daily or on occasion. The Digital Citizenship Curriculum is designed to foster both necessary skills and essential dispositions for digital citizenship. The goal is to support young people in developing skills such as creating a strong password or assessing the credibility of an online source and aim to help young people be reflective, responsible, and ethical decision makers in their connected lives. (James, Weinstein, & Mendoza, 2019) When the teens are more aware of their online privacy, it helps them take steps to protect themselves. The internet can be a scary place, but if we teach the students about digital citizenship, they can take the necessary steps to protect themselves and others online.
I also found the Teaching Digital Citizens in Today’s World article to be very resourceful when it talked more about The Common Sense Curriculum for digital citizenship. I also really enjoyed the information about the six topics from the curriculum: Media Balance and Well-Being; Privacy and Security; Digital Footprint and Identity; Relationships and Communication; Cyberbullying, Digital Drama, and Hate Speech; and News and Media Literacy. This article also talks more about how to implement digital citizenship for our students as well.
Image Source: https://www.mps-edu.org/domain/766
With my students, I really try to emphasize the importance of digital citizenship. Since tweens and teens are being more nonymous, it is really important that educators talk to them about online safety and how to be a good digital citizen. For me, the internet is a scary place, but it is also full of great resources. When we use the internet, how it is meant to be used, it is full of wonderful topics and tools for everyone to enjoy. I think that it is so important to even teach our younger students about digital citizenship because it will help them protect themselves online, like telling a parent or teacher about what they saw online.
After reading these statistics, I reflected more on how this applies to my current students. I thought about how much we go online, but we rarely talk about how to properly use the internet. I also try to incorporate more technology, but am I then increasing all of the students’ screen times? I think that educators need to focus on how students should be using the internet and how they can protect themselves when using it. Technology is fun and it is a great tool to use, but we also need to take into consideration how much we actually use it and what we are really looking at online.
Resources
Anderson, M., & Jiang, J. (2018). Teens,social media & technology 2018. Retrieved from Pew Research Center website: http://assets.pewresearch.org/wpcontent/uploads/sites/14/2018/05/31102617/PI_2018.05 .31_TeensTech_FINAL.pdf
James, C., Weinstein, E., & Mendoza, K. (2019) Teaching digital citizens in today’s world: research and insights behind the common sense K–12 digital citizenship curriculum. Retrieved from Common Sense Media website: https://d1e2bohyu2u2w9.cloudfront.net/education/sites/default/files/tlr_component/common_sense_education_digital_citizenship_research_backgrounder.pdf
Rideout, V., & Robb, M. (2018). Social media,social life: Teens reveal their experiences. Retrieved from Common Sense Media website: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/uploads/research/2018_cs_socialmediasociallife_fullreport-final-release_2_lowres.pdf
Hi Deanna,
ReplyDeleteI also focused on the Digital Citizenship report for this week and I discussed many of the items you were focusing on too. You raised a wonderful point about how many young adults are extremely trusting with people online, even if they do not fully know who they are. I liked the suggestion you have of using digital citizenship as a way to teach young adults to be safe and smart with their presence online. What a positive way to talk about the serious topic of online predators. Your method would be one that could open an engaging and relatable dialogue for learners, something they most certainly would have a commentary about.
Deanna this is such a powerful post! I really appreciated the deep-dive you took into reflecting on the research and how it impacts your students today. Kudos!
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