Safe to share? Or not safe to share? That is the question. At least that’s the question I posed to all fourth, fifth, and sixth graders when we started our digital citizenship unit last month. Responses ranged from “no way” to “that’s totally safe” to “it depends” as students traded stories and lively discussion echoed off the walls of the library. And, while most students agreed that it was not safe to share their picture, name, telephone number, or address with the public (I used “world” and “public” interchangeably to get that message across), what they didn’t know was that they may be sharing these things already, unintentionally.

Instead of getting into the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) rules and waving a no-no finger at them, I told students what exactly it was they were agreeing to if they ever did check off that little “I am at least 13 years or older” checkbox before creating an account online. Well, all of the aforementioned things they generally agreed were not safe to share with the public, are being collected, stored, and shared with the world.

Jump a couple of lessons further, after cyberbullying, to our digital footprint lesson--which dives deeper into the persistence or permanency of one’s information and online history--when I ask the students:

Using only one word, how does it make you feel knowing that everything you do online is stored and can be searched for, shared, or even broadcasted?

Fourth grader: “Icky.”

Fifth grader: “Uncomfortable.”

Sixth grader: “Scared.”

I teach the students that managing one’s online engagement cannot be willfully ignored. Our digital audience is wide, our digital content is persistent and sometimes permanent, and the impact of our digital footprint can define our present and future.

As teachers, we all hope that the lessons we teach in school make their way back to the dinner table for an extension of the conversation. I asked the students to talk to their families about their online engagement and discuss ways to keep themselves safe, perhaps even creating some kind of digital contract or agreement with their families.

Do you have a Family Media Agreement at home? Here are a couple of options:

• Family Media Agreement by Common Sense Media

• Family Media Agreement by Smart Social

• Tech Device Contract by Media Smarts

Suggested Reads:

Parenting for the Digital Generation: A Guide to Digital Education and the Online Environment by Jon M. Garon (available for checkout from the Acton Memorial Library)