In the past couple of weeks I’ve been championing the #DQEveryChild campaign, a unique global education movement developed by the DQ Institute Coalition comprising the World Economic Forum, governments, leading NGOs, academic researchers, and ICT companies, which aims to empower every 8-12 year old child around the world with DQ digital citizenship skills by using a simple ‘plug & play’ method.

To be honest ever since I became very conscious of the concept of digital citizenship and the norms and code of conduct that responsible digital citizens should subscribe to, I realize that it’s not just the children that need the education, adults also need to gain mastery of the 8 core digital citizenship skills.

A couple of days ago, I was deeply saddened at how some people could fabricate a story claiming that Don Moen had died. Of course with social media, the story went viral in minutes. Talk about a total lack of digital empathy!

How many times have we contributed to spreading a fake story simply because we didn’t take the pains to investigate if it was true (Critical Thinking). Then there is the issue of sharing inappropriate images and videos on group platforms without respect for the privacy of other members of the group (Privacy Management). The one that really gets me is how some people are so quick to whip out their phones to record any and everything…young toddlers dancing very sensually…accident situations where the victims are still trying to be rescued…Whether it’s in the area of Screen Time Management (I’m very guilty of this one, even though I try to justify it by telling myself “it’s work”) or Cyber Security Management, I believe we all need to up our DQ (Digital Intelligence Quotient) and become responsible digital citizens.

As we parent our children in this digital age, let’s remember these children are watching us. They learn more by observation than by what we say. So the next time you’re tempted to yell at your child out of frustration because of the endless hours he/she spends on social media, just pause, ask yourself “am I guilty?” and if the answer is “yes”, make the  necessary adjustments.

I invite you to #DQEveryChild….#DQEveryOne…let’s lead by example.

To find out more about Digital Citizenship Education, please feel free to contact me. I will be more than happy to help.