From Digital Citizenship to Critical Digital Citizenship

What is traditional digital citizenship?

Technology is everywhere, and civic life is no exception. We are civic actors in both online and offline spaces, in ways which frequently blend the two experiences together. However, technology is not a neutral influence, and we often fail to grapple with how the ramifications of its growing presence in our lives impacts our civic intentions or actions. Schools—which already bear the responsibility of civic education—need support in addressing this new civic landscape. Digital Citizenship curricula seem poised to meet that need, but they tend to focus on teaching young people to behave in safe and respectful ways online. By emphasizing personal safety and polite standards of behavior, digital citizenship curricula beg students to guard themselves, fall in line, and play by the rules. Civic education which approaches digital citizenship this way sustains those already in power, and maintains oppressive systems. If we want students to show up as civic actors, rather than as civic parrots, we must look to critical digital citizenship.

The following articles offer further critiques on traditional digital citizenship curricula:

What is Critical Digital Citizenhip?

The assumptions and prejudices of people and groups are often intertwined with inequalities in societies. Digital citizenship, therefore, must be inspired by civic resistance that challenge the systems that maintain power and inequality. Critical digital citizenship offers youth powerful ways to confront oppression and use digital media to express their politics and promote civic engagement. Youth should have opportunities to challenge inequality, learn from the perspectives or minoritized or targeted groups, and take tangible steps toward reducing inequality and injustice. Critical digital citizenship curricula becomes a means for educators and students to use, and interrogate, technology in order to effect systemic change. Based in critical pedagogy, the Young People's Race, Power, and Technology (YPRPT) project is an example of youth civic expression, one that can help educators and scholars reconsider how critical digital citizenship can move toward a more just world.