Digital citizenship

What is Digital Citizenship?

Today, it is difficult—if not impossible—to avoid the internet in both our professional and personal lives. Since the internet is everywhere, it is important to learn to use it in the best possible way, which requires greater control and a better understanding of our digital life.

Definition: Digital citizenship refers to how internet users behave and interact online. It mainly concerns the behavior we adopt during our online interactions with others on socially or politically sensitive topics. The rights and duties we have in real life also apply on the Internet. Our behavior and interactions also shape how others perceive us online. Moreover, online interactions are not limited to our behavior or posts; they also concern how we protect our privacy, including passwords, location, and online history.

Digital citizenship also encourages a critical view of our relationship with the internet and how we use it, especially regarding personal information we share, sometimes unknowingly.

Good Digital Practices

Definition: “Good practices” refers both to how we should behave to make the internet a space of freedom and mutual respect and to the rules that websites and apps require us to follow. Many websites and online services impose rules that define proper conduct and user rights.

Example: The web application Twitter provides several tips for using its tools: “Think before you tweet: You control the content shared on Twitter or any other website. Never post information considered confidential, and weigh the pros and cons before publicly sharing your location. Beware of communications asking for your contact details, personal data, or passwords. If in doubt before tweeting, ask yourself: With whom is my information shared? What type and amount of information am I about to share? How many users have access to my information? Can I trust all the people who have access to this information?”

The platform also enforces essential rules:

“Violence: It is forbidden to threaten to use violence against a person or group. We also prohibit any advocacy of violence. Hate conduct: It is forbidden to threaten, harass, or incite violence against others based on race, ethnicity, nationality, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religion, age, disability, or serious illness.”

It is therefore important to frequently remind that our online behavior has real-life impact, and that online harassment, for example, can lead to real tragedies.

Furthermore, the internet is now a powerful tool for citizens. It enables better-informed citizenship, more participative democracy, and easier access to information. It allows debate, communication, and can be used to expose dangers or risks to society, as seen with whistleblowers using the internet to denounce corruption or violations of freedom (see the documentary “Citizenfour” by Laura Poitras, 2014, about Edward Snowden).

Maintaining a Positive Digital Footprint

Definition: A digital footprint is all the information that exists on the internet as a result of our online activity. It is a representation of ourselves, built from our behavior, posts, and personal choices.

It is therefore important to maintain as positive a digital footprint as possible! You can write a blog on a specific topic, share talents or create a video tutorial, raise money for charity, or help organize events. The list of ways to create a positive digital footprint is endless!