Varsha Prasad
Editor, TeacherTribe.world
Today, there are lots of scams, online frauds and cybercrimes haunting us through digital platforms. With technology evolving at a lightning speed, fraudsters are finding newer ways to scam people, children and adults alike. It is very important for all of us to stay safe and navigate carefully to avoid becoming predators of such crimes. This involves basic online knowledge and awareness about what is right and wrong.
In the last few weeks, I was witness to at least three or four different kinds of ‘fraudulent’ digital activities, prompting me to write about digital citizenship.
Case 1 – My father got a WhatsApp message from his uncle, who lives in the US. My father got into a casual conversation with him, which lead to the uncle requesting my father to transfer a few thousand rupees into his account, for an emergency. This got my father suspicious, as he was sure his uncle wouldn’t ask him for money, that too in Indian rupees. A few minutes later, the family WhatsApp group was flooded with messages, where everyone was discussing about the messages they had got from the same uncle, requesting for money. A few of them had even gone ahead and transferred the money to the account shared. It was later discovered that the phone of that uncle was hacked, and messages from him were doing rounds to all the people in his contact list.
Case 2 – I got a call during the Dussehra weekend from my bank, telling me that my credit card has expired and that they will be shipping a new one to my registered address. The caller shared a link with me and asked me to click on the link to verify my postal address and confirm my credit card number by providing the details. Knowing that a bank would never ask for account details, I cut the call and blocked the number.
Case 3 – A family I know of had gone on a vacation during Diwali. Their teenage daughter had posted the details of the trip, including where they were staying, their itinerary, etc. online. Knowing the family’s absence from home and their exact itinerary, the house was robbed of all valuable items.
Case 4 – There were forwards on multiple WhatsApp groups recently about a scheme which would give the highest returns with minimal investment. These were targeting women in particular, promising many things in return. Many believed this, and this in turn was forwarded to many others, without actually validating the information.
Digital Citizenship
All the above instances are examples of how social media and the digital world can be misused and how people using these platforms can be abused. While digital citizenship, in simple words, is using digital mediums in a responsible way, it is just not restricted to that. It also includes being aware of what is factual and what is not, identifying fake news, prevention of spreading unjustified messages, links and videos, practising digital wellbeing and lots more. Practising digital citizenship in today’s world has become even more prominent, as there is no filter on what is correct and what is not. As everyone has a smart device and access to social media, mindful digital habits from each and every person adds value to making a safe digital space.
Why it is important?
One might say that the WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram Universities are running the world today. For most people, including adults and children, forwards and messages on these platforms are no less than gospels. The content that is shared and available on these platforms are blindly believed, followed and forwarded, without further validation. This has paved way for fraudsters to misuse digital platforms and scam people. As educators, adults guiding children and as accountable users of the digital media, it becomes our responsibility to understand what’s digitally right and wrong, and in turn educate children with it.
What teachers can do?
The first and the foremost responsibility of teachers is to make sure that they are ‘digitally literate’. This involves understanding different digital platforms and how they are used, differentiating between authentic and fake information, and understanding digital etiquettes.
Teachers can also use this information to their advantage in classroom discussions with students, as most transactions and communication with students and parents happen on digital mediums. With children also being active users of social media and the likes, it gives teachers another opportunity to educate them about the dos and don’ts and at the same time bond with them on a subject that they relate to better.
Awareness about digital safety can begin with topics such as –
What is the right thing to post online and what’s not.
Validating information before forwarding it to friends and family.
Checking if the information being provided is fake or authentic before believing it.
Avoiding sharing sensitive information online and with strangers on the internet. It can be address, contact details, etc.
Avoiding clicking on links that come from unknown sources.
Avoiding sharing passwords and user IDs with people.
Avoiding posting inappropriate and unwanted content online.
Apart from this, all of us as responsible digital citizens can –
Be kind and mindful while commenting on posts online
Be aware of scams and fraudulent content circulating on the internet
Be cautious while clicking on links or sharing information4.Be safe by password protecting our accounts and not sharing it with anyone.
Teachers can practice this and discuss each of these points in class, in detail. Teachers will be surprised to know how well-informed students are regarding this topic and how much more they can add to this. At the end of the day, practising safe and responsible digital etiquette from an early age, will make better digital citizens of the future.
Have you come across similar scenarios where digital mediums were misused? Write to me and share your thoughts onvarsha@greycaps.com.