I was particularly intrigued by the article 8 Digital Skill We Must Teach Our Children and how it clearly laid out extremely important skills that children must be taught and may not necessarily develop on their own. Children growing up in the digital age may understand key concepts related to the internet and digital media, but often do not have the “competences and skills they require in order to live good lives with these technologies” (Livingstone, 2019). It cannot be assumed that children will develop these skills on
their own, they must be taught. And I feel that the eight digital skills laid out by Yuhyun Park (2016) are of most importance.
For me, in my future practice as a children’s librarian, I can see this being an extremely important topic with which parents and caregivers must become familiar. Yes, these skills should be incorporated into schooling, but as we know, schools don’t necessarily teach all the right things or how to actually move through the world, and in this case the digital world, in a safe, effective, and useful manner. Technologies, and social media specifically, are designed to be addictive. Children must be taught how to create boundaries around it, how to interact with it in a secure and safe way, and ultimately understand that their digital identity is an identity that is created and must be managed (Park, 2016). I can imagine library programming for parents and caregivers about how to teach these skills. I can see school libraries, and public libraries for that matter, designing workshops or inviting in experts to teach adults how to pass on these skills to their children. I worry about this for my future children, and I don’t even have any children yet. I can only imagine how parents and guardians feel as they actively see their children try to navigate the digital world on their own without necessarily knowing how to help them. Teaching children these digital skills has become absolutely imperative.
References
Livingstone, S. (2019, February 13). Digital natives or naïve experts? Exploring how Norwegian children understand the internet. London School of Economics and Political Science. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/parenting4digitalfuture/2019/02/13/digital-natives-or-naive-experts/.
Mars, B. (2021, March 11). Girl in white sweater and blue denim jeans sitting on the floor [Photo]. Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/girl-in-white-sweater-and-blue-denim-jeans-sitting-on-floor-zeCdye9bUmI.
Park, Y. (2016, June 4). 8 digital skills we must teach our children. World Economic Forum, Medium. https://medium.com/world-economic-forum/8-digital-skills-we-must-teach-our-children-f37853d7221e#.789qtaw64.
Hi Rachel,
I absolutely love this choice for your reflection post! It’s pretty crazy how digital skills are something we have to formalize and teach now, but I definitely agree that it’s important to. While newer generations may be entrenched with technology and may likely learn how to use an iPhone much faster than older generations did, this doesn’t mean that they’ll intuitively know how to navigate online spaces effectively and safely. I see it a lot like any other teaching — just because a kid knows how to relieve themselves instinctually doesn’t mean that potty-training isn’t still a very important lesson. (Sorry for the choice in example! It was the first one to come to mind.) In fact, I think with how online newer generations are (at what seems to be increasingly younger ages too), it makes it even more important to have this formal teaching moment.
Hi Rachel,
Your post is resonating deeply with me especially when you said that , “Technologies, and social media specifically, are designed to be addictive.” Social media and the internet as a whole can be a wonderful place to seek information and build community, yet boundaries must be set especially for our children.
I have a 4.5 year old son. I am pretty liberal with the ipad because it’s quite convenient especially when I’m working, cooking, etc. And I’m also hyper aware that I need to maintain balance with his technology use with actual play and reading time with me. It also meant that I needed to limit my own time on my socials because he’s learning from me too.
@rachelke
This: “…but as we know, schools don’t necessarily teach all the right things or how to actually move through the world, and in this case the digital world, in a safe, effective, and useful manner. ”
I so agree with this thought and I really believe it should be something that is taught in schools and is part of curriculum from as soon as they are in the K of the K through 12.
Great article about Norway. Love this: Norwegian children spend a considerable amount of time online, and both own and use a range of digital media devices. However, we consider it more appropriate to refer to these children as ‘naïve experts’ rather than ‘digital natives’.