Digital citizenship

What It Means

Digital citizenship is the set of habits that make someone a safe, responsible and respectful member of life online. It covers how people treat others, protect their privacy and accounts, respect other people's work, and think about what they post before it becomes permanent. Schools may teach it through a curriculum, such as Common Sense Education's, with lessons on cyberbullyingCyberbullyingBullying that happens through phones, computers, tablets and games, such as cruel messages, rumors, embarrassing posts or pretending to be someone. See more, online safetyOnline safety for kidsThe habits, rules and tools that help children use the internet, apps and games while avoiding harm such as scams, cruelty, and adults who try to exploit them. See more, privacy and media literacy.

How People Say It

• "We're doing a digital citizenship unit in class."
• "Think before you post, it's there forever."
• "Ask before you share a picture of your friend."

The Breakdown

How to practice it at home

1. Talk about the digital footprint. What a child posts, likes or shares can last far longer than the moment it was meant for.
2. Set up privacy together. Go through who can see your child's posts and profile on each app they use.
3. Practice kindness online, and agree on what your child should do if someone is cruel to them or to a friend.
4. Respect other people's work and faces. Ask before posting a photo of someone, and give credit for what you borrow.
5. Write down family rulesFamily rulesA short list of clear, specific statements about the behavior a family expects, agreed on by the adults and applied the same way every time. See more for devices and revisit them when a new app or device arrives.

Try it today. Sit down with your child, open one app they use, and check together who can see their last post.

What a school standard asks of kids. ISTE's Standards for Students name being a digital citizen as standard 1.2, with four habits worth copying at home:

• Look after your digital identity and reputation, since what you do online can stick around.
• Be kind, safe, honest and within the law online, in chats and games as much as anywhere.
• Respect other people's creative work when you use or share it.
• Guard your personal data, and know that sites and apps can track what you do.

Where It Comes From

Mike Ribble and his coauthors described digital citizenship in a September 2004 article in Learning & Leading with Technology, defining it as the accepted standards for using technology appropriately and responsibly. Ribble's work sets out nine elements, which he groups into three themes: respect, educate and protect.

Good to Know

Ask your child's school which digital citizenship curriculum it uses, so the words at home match the ones in class. For a ready-made starting point, the FTC publishes a lesson called "What Is Digital Citizenship and How To Practice It" that a parent can walk through with a child.

Related Terms and Categories

• Online safety for kids

  The habits, rules and tools that help children use the internet, apps and games while avoiding harm such as scams, cruelty, and adults who try to exploit them.

• Cyberbullying

  Bullying that happens through phones, computers, tablets and games, such as cruel messages, rumors, embarrassing posts or pretending to be someone.

• Parental controls

  Settings and tools that let a parent limit what a child can see, download, buy and who they can contact on a device or app, and for how long.

• Phishing

  A scam where someone sends an email or text that looks like it's from a company you trust, to trick you into giving up passwords, account numbers or other details.

• Phone-free school

  A school whose rules keep students' personal phones put away during school hours, for class time only or for the whole day.

Tech and digital life for families