Digital Netiquette

Digital Netiquette By: Hannah Zawisza

The internet is a very useful but dangerous place. People of all ages need to realize how important digital etiquette is.

What is Digital Netiquette?

It is a basic set of rules you should follow in order to make the internet better for others, and better for you. It's just as important to treat people with courtesy and respect online as it is in real life.

Netiquette has very general rules you should follow:

THINK is the first step you need to use on the web. No matter if you are posting, texting, or calling you need to remember these steps. It might be very tedious to go through these steps every time but doing these could prevent you from making mistakes. Using think also will inspire others to follow you and stop people from doing bad things online!

Easy steps to creating a positive online community

Next, remember the human. When you are online some times you forget who you are talking to behind the screen. It is very easy to start to say rude things because you are not face to face. Remembering the human can put you in the mindset to know who you want to talk to.

Social Media Etiquette

Social media is a big part where digital netiquette comes into play. Having social media is a big responsibility that requires smart thinking and respect. First, when you get a social media account write down passwords so you always have them if there are any issues. Next, make your account private, even though no account is ever private it still makes it more secure than other accounts. Only let people who you know any trust follow you because you do not want random people stalking you. When you post make sure it is very appropriate, not offensive, and kind before you click post. If anyone is harassing you or saying rude things, you need to remove them or report to tell an adult to stop it. Limit your access so you are not spending all of your time on social media.

Other helpful tips

Some helpful tips on your phones are do not copyright or use someone else work without asking. Respect people's time span online. Remember just because you send a text doesn't mean the receiver will text back fast. Be cautious about how many times you text a person. Being safe online will reduce cyber bulling, trouble, and curiousness. Do NOT create an account without permission because you could end up getting yourself in trouble.

Data for Netiquette:

This data shows over half of people have learn a little bit of what the core standards are for digital netiquette. But, still we do not have everyone on the knowledge side. 40% of people never were taught or knew the term netiquette. This is a issue for how common technology is becoming in our youth. We need to find a way to share and let people be aware of how serious technology is.

These categories from the chart are the most harmful uses of not using netiquette. The most common factor is not knowing who you are sharing your personal information with, which is very concerning because being on your phone, you want to be as safe as possible online. Talking with strangers is also a big one which is crazy because you could have no idea who is on the other side of the screen. Using etiquette you can reduce all of the causes of these topics, if you make smart decisions and follow the rules you should not have to worry about these being an issue. The main reason these topics occur is because no one asks permission or asks for help which makes these topics so serious in our world today.

Last tips you need to consider:

Context you post is very important: people online will only see your context and what you post. Make sure you are happy with your context and ready for anyone to see.
Remember treat everyone how they would want to be treated: no one wants to be put down or teased. Think of how you would feel if someone hurts your feelings. Be kind.
Use good language: this is a very easy rule that should be very easy to follow, this also means to stay positive and to not say negative things to others.
Do not copy or gossip: having the ability to click a button and share what someone texted to you to another person is a very easy thing to do. But, doing this is really dangerous. If the person found out you were sharing their personal thoughts they only told you, it will cause a lot of drama so do not do this action.
Use common sense: this rule might sound silly but you know what is right from wrong. Making the right decisions are easy, deciding the hard ones are bad.

Citations https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/7-rules-to-teach-kids-online-etiquette#

http://www.lesd.k12.az.us/webpages/computerlab/index.cfm?subpage=2011950

https://www.education.com/reference/article/netiquette-rules-behavior-internet/

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