Raising Humans in a Digital World Read online

  OUT OF LEMONS, LEMONADE

  After a week of watching the traffic of crying students, irate parents, and confused teachers flow in and out of Faltas’s office as he attempted to navigate Journey School’s first cyberincident, I asked if I could teach “digital citizenship” to my youngest daughter’s sixth-grade class. This, I assured him (secretly hoping I was right), would keep future problems out of his office. He considered my proposal for about three seconds. “When can you start?” he asked.

  “I had no idea what ‘digital citizenship’ was at the time,” said Faltas, “but I knew that doing nothing was not an option. It was clear that issues related to digital media were sure to crop up again, and we needed to be proactive rather than reactive. I knew I needed help.”31

  CYBER CIVICS IS BORN

  Faltas allowed me to appropriate the school’s weekly civics class and turn it into “Cyber Civics,” a course I’ve been teaching to middle-school students ever since. Today it is a three-year series of weekly activities that cover the entire spectrum of digital literacy—digital citizenship (the safe and responsible use of digital tools), information literacy (how to find, retrieve, analyze, and use online information), and media literacy for positive participation (using critical thinking to analyze media messages, including “fake news”). Faltas encouraged me to place the entire curriculum online, so other schools could use it, too. As of this writing, schools in over forty U.S. states (and four other countries) teach Cyber Civics to their students, and the program continues to grow. With this book, hopefully some of these civics activities will find their way into your homes as well.

  CIVICS FOR A DIGITAL AGE

  Civics, the study of citizenship, has an entirely new meaning today. We live in an age when we are as much a citizen of the online world as we are of our town, state, or country. In a captivating TED Talk, Eric Lui, founder of Citizen University and the executive director of the Aspen Institute Citizenship and American Identity Program, describes civics as “the art of being a pro-social, problem solving contributor in a self-governing community.”32

  I love this definition and can’t think of any communities more “selfgoverning” than those online. Can you? Consider the social media communities where youth hang out, share information, and spend the bulk of their time—like Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, and so forth. These communities are largely devoid of parents, internet police, crossing guards, or even rules to keep their users in line or safe. Kids are left to their own devices to figure out how to be a good citizen in places like these.

  Lui further explains civics by quoting Microsoft founder Bill Gates’s father, Bill Gates Sr., who says civics is “simply showing up for life.”33 I love that descriptor, too, and especially the three things Lui says it encompasses:

  •A foundation of values

  •An understanding of the systems that make the world go round

  •A set of skills that allow you to pursue goals, and have others join in that pursuit

  These were three things I was hoping to accomplish through Cyber Civics. By guiding kids through a series of discussions and activities surrounding a range of technology-related topics, I thought that, given time, we could realize these same objectives. This holistic approach to “digital literacy”— possibly the most important skill kids need today, given the time they spend with tech—achieves an important end. It arms kids with the superpowers to keep themselves safe and be super online and off.

  Digital Literacy is more than technological know-how. It includes a wide variety of ethical, social, and reflective practices that are embedded in work, learning, leisure, and daily life.34

  The Experiment Works!

  Much to my relief, within a few years of implementing Cyber Civics at Journey School, my assurances to Faltas were validated. He told me that few tech problems ever reached his office, “which is rare for a school in the twenty-first century.” On top of that, standardized test scores for his middle-school students were on the rise, in spite of warnings that sacrificing precious academic time for these classes was a risk. A 2015 article in District Administration Magazine, based on an interview with Faltas, says, “In the first two years after implementing Cyber Civics, the school’s Academic Performance Index score grew from 766 to 878—the highest in the school’s history.” The article adds, “Only three incidents of poor digital behavior or online bullying have been reported since 2011, and none have occurred in the last two years.”35

  “It’s a gamble not to give your kids these lessons,” he has said.

  EVERY KID NEEDS THESE LESSONS

  Teaching kids how to be safe, thoughtful, and ethical users of technology doesn’t have to—and can’t—happen only in a classroom, and that’s the reason for this book. Parents and caregivers can achieve the same ends with their own children at home. It’s sort of like building a house. You must first lay a strong foundation before helping your child build a structure that will keep them safe. Then they can enjoy the benefits of interacting with a larger community.

  That is how you’ll find this book organized:

  •Part One: A Solid Foundation. Your child’s house must be built upon a solid foundation, and part one will show you where to start. The skills you nurture while your children are young will pay off in spades as they grow older.

  •Part Two: A Sturdy Structure. The next step is to help your children build a sturdy structure, comprised of four strong pillars, that will withstand any storms that may blow their way. It will be as durable and secure as the effort you both put into it.

  •Part Three: A Vibrant Community. Here’s the fun part. With a strong foundation and sturdy structure in place, part three will show you how to help your children connect and engage— critically and confidently—with new communities and opportunities online. The goal is for them to use digital technologies to learn, inspire, be inspired, and share their unique talents with the world.

  To help you with this building project, this book is packed with activities that you and your children can do together, called “Cyber Civics Moments.” They will help your children, and your family, build a safe, happy, and healthy relationship with technology.

  Where to start? At the beginning, as I do.

  CYBER CIVICS MOMENTS

  Every fall I greet a new crop of sixth graders eager to embark upon our Cyber Civics lessons. After all, they know that in this class they’ll get to talk about the thing that already consumes much of their interest and time: technology. The first day I start by asking a simple question: When you think of “technology,” what comes to mind? Students respond enthusiastically by naming all the technologies they love—smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, computers, laptops, smartwatches, etc. Rarely do they mention any technology invented prior to the computer.

  But new technologies are as old as humankind, and many of them significantly altered, and worried, the societies they were introduced to. Consider the stylus. When this writing instrument was invented, many feared it would mark the end of oral history. The great philosopher Socrates warned it would “create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories.”36

  Centuries later another new technology, the printing press, caused a similar stir. Suddenly, large amounts of information could be shared quickly and cheaply, and some people found this disturbing. Respected Swiss scientist Conrad Gessner even worried that this flood of information would be “confusing and harmful” to the mind.37

  Eventually, humans became accustomed to both writing and reading, thank goodness, even though the technological innovations that made both possible were met with apprehension, resistance, and fear. Students easily draw the connection to today’s technologies when they hear these stories. Their parents, they say, aren’t so crazy about smartphones either.

  Helping children understand technology’s social impact is an important place to start. In a terrific book I recommend to parents, titled Digital Community, Digital Citizen, by Jason Ohler, a professo
r emeritus of educational technology and virtual learning at the University of Alaska, as well as a professor in the media psychology PhD program at Fielding University, Ohler suggests challenging students to become what he calls “de-‘tech’-tives” (see activity below). As a student at the University of Toronto, Ohler studied under famed media theorist Marshall McLuhan, who coined the phrase “the medium is the message.” He remembers McLuhan explaining how every technology introduced throughout history both connects and disconnects humans from one another. While the connections make new tools exciting (think of the telephone, which finally enabled users to speak with faraway family and friends), disconnections are what we either worry about or fail to recognize at first (the phone also displaced face-to-face communication). I remember my own parents being upset about our telephone-induced disconnections. They didn’t like it when my siblings and I talked to friends during dinner or when we were supposed to be helping with chores. Like today’s parents, they thought technology was disconnecting their children from important things.

  I’ve conducted Ohler’s activity hundreds of times, with both kids and adults. While it’s always fun with kids, this lesson is a good one for adults, too—especially the most tech averse. If that’s you, and even if it’s not, spend a few moments doing the following activity with your children.

  Become a De-“Tech”-Tive

  You and your children can use the following steps to investigate technology’s impact throughout history:

  1.Think of three new technologies, or “tools,” introduced throughout history—the pencil, bow and arrow, microwave oven, radio, telephone, automobile, or any other technology.

  2.With your children, think of ways each of these tools changed society for better or worse. More specifically, talk about how each tool connected people to one another, and how it disconnected them. For example, when I’ve challenged students with this activity (using the bow and arrow as their “tool”), here’s what they came up with: The bow and arrow connected people to one another because they could easily get more food to cook and eat together. (One student told me that when Cupid releases an arrow, it makes a love connection!) On the other hand, the bow and arrow disconnected people because they could hunt alone. They no longer had to be in groups to catch and kill a big animal. Also, if used as a weapon, the bow and arrow becomes a huge disconnection.

  3.Finally, discuss how today’s technology—specifically, the smartphone—connects and disconnects users. Have an honest discussion on the pros and cons of this new tool.

  What Was Life Like Before the Cell Phone?

  This might seem like a ridiculous question, but most kids today don’t remember a world without cell phones or connected devices, and you do. So encourage them to use their “de-‘tech’-tive” skills to discover how you survived without today’s seemingly indispensable tool.

  When I do this activity with students, they love to share the results of their sleuthing. They are amazed to discover that their parents carried change in their pockets to use a pay phone, or that they played with their friends after school in real life—no social media required. Some students come to class with an old flip phone, or even a brick phone, that a parent found tucked in a drawer at home. Their classmates are so excited to see these relics you’d think they’d dug up a dinosaur bone in the schoolyard.

  You Can Also Do This at Home

  1.Let your child interview you (or a grandparent or older relative) to discover what your life was like before the cell phone. Be sure to answer these questions:

  •How did you get along without it?

  •Did you have an early version of a cell phone? If so, what was it like?

  •Do you think having a cell phone makes your life better or worse?

  2.Talk with your child about all the digital innovations you’ve witnessed in your lifetime, and how they may have changed your life, for better or worse.

  Understanding Citizenship

  Every kid today will use technology to connect with others in all kinds of new ways, becoming a “citizen” of online communities you may or may not know about. Understanding how to be a good community member offline is fairly easy—the real world is governed by rules, laws, and norms established over time—but that’s not the case online. Many online communities lack rules, laws, and norms, and if there are any, they are sometimes hard for kids to figure out (think of age restrictions buried in the “terms of use” for most games or social media sites). Plus, who cares when online rules are broken?

  That’s why it’s important to introduce young people to the five “themes of citizenship.”38 Tell them that every good citizen—online and offline— should demonstrate the following traits:

  •Honesty. Be truthful and fair. Good citizens must be honest with others, and with themselves.

  •Compassion. Show care for people and reverence for living things. Compassion gives citizens an emotional bond with their world.

  •Respect. Show regard or consideration for others, and even toward inanimate things or ideas. Good citizens should have respect for laws and reverence for all living things.

  •Responsibility. Be answerable and accountable. Citizens should recognize that their actions have an effect, either positive or negative, upon others.

  •Courage. Do the right thing even when it’s unpopular, difficult, or dangerous. Many people throughout history—including Martin Luther King Jr., Susan B. Anthony, and Mahatma Gandhi—have demonstrated great courage.

  It never occurs to many kids that these principles of citizenship should apply online, and that’s too bad, because they would help make the internet safer and kinder. Just like playing a soccer game without rules or a referee would be no fun for anyone, an online world devoid of basic rules or principles ends up being a bummer for just about everyone, too.

  Many good kids believe they can act entirely different online than they do in real life. Here’s an example: If I were at your home and asked your nine-year-old her age, chances are I’d get the truth. That’s probably because your child knows it’s her responsibility to be honest and respectful. This is how people act in real life; it is what you and other adults model and what most kids have learned.

  Consider this same scenario online. Let’s say your child wants to open an account on Snapchat. Perhaps “all his friends” have an account, and he just wants one. While Snapchat, like most social media networks, requires users to be at least thirteen years of age, all young children have to do is enter a fake birth date, and presto, they have an account. Most don’t think twice about ignoring the first theme of citizenship, honesty, online. If I had a dime for every time I’ve had a young student tell me, “Nobody cares when you lie about your age online,” I’d own a Caribbean island. But I care, I tell them, and venture to say you do, too. I don’t think honesty (or compassion, respect, responsibility, and courage) are principles that anybody wants to throw out the window.

  This activity can help your children discover how to be the same good citizen online as you expect them to be offline. Do the following:

  1.Explain the above principles to your children. Tell them that in the offline world these traits are generally expected of good citizens. They are norms that civilizations have established over time.

  2.Talk to your children about all the offline communities they belong to: sports teams, classroom, city, state, country, even family. Ask them to tell you how they might demonstrate these citizenship principles in one of these communities. Be sure to discuss what it would be like if these communities did not follow these principles.

  3.Talk to your children about the online communities they, or you, belong to—a social media network or a gaming community, for example. Ask them how the citizenship principles might be demonstrated in one of these communities. Be sure to ask them to tell you what it would be like if these communities did not (or do not) follow these same principles.

  Each year I ask students to write a sentence, or to draw a picture, describing how each citize
nship trait is exemplified in an offline community they belong to. Last year, a sixth-grade student, Blake Hirst, bounded into class waving an entire essay he’d written, eager to share it with the class. Here is what he wrote:

  I was told that I had to do a report on how a community I belong to shows citizenship, so I chose to do it on my classroom community. Hope you enjoy!

  HONESTY: Suppose there are two different math quizzes, and they don’t have names on them. Your teacher asks you which one is yours. One has a better grade, and the other one doesn’t. The one with the bad grade is yours. So, do you say the one with the good grade is yours, or not? Most likely you would be honest and admit you got the lower grade. This is honesty.

  COMPASSION: This can mean helping someone when they are in a time of need. Sometimes at my school we have “Compassionate Campus,” where we do something like clean or write nice letters to teachers. This is a slight rendering of what compassion is.

  RESPECT: Respect is a value that everyone should have. Respect, for example, is not talking out of turn in class or not saying bad things about a person when they are not around. I think everyone in the world would benefit by showing each other more respect.

  RESPONSIBILITY: Let’s say you were late to class at school, and it was your fault because you were out playing basketball. That’s irresponsible, right? Responsibility would mean you would stop playing basketball and head back to class when the bell rings.

  COURAGE: Maybe you are at school, and someone is picking on a friend or someone who is sort of unpopular, and you stick up for them. That’s an example of courage. Even if it’s you being made fun of, it shows courage not to do it back. Courage is one of the most essential things a citizen should have.

  Well that is my report on citizenship, and I hope you learned something from it and had fun reading it.

  PART ONE