Importance Of Being A Good Digital Citizen

Week 5: Why is it important to be a good digital citizen? What value does a good digital reputation have?

- Practicing good digital citizenship is very important in our age of limitless internet access, downloads, and social media. Being a good digital citizen leads to better safety, less potential conflicts, and a good representation of one's self and their interaction with others. Knowing proper security techniques and applications prevents viruses, worms, trojan horses, etc. from making costly damages on your computer or spreading the harmful problems to someone else. As the internet has become a society-wide tool, the Internet also has spawned its share of society-wide problems like innappropriate websites, online predators, fraud, and copyright and plagiarism issues. Being familiar with the appropriate rules and behavior can prevent these issues from happening. Also, when interacting with others on social media sites such as Facebook, it is vital to learn and apply good digital citizenship rules. A commonly accepted rule is the altered Golden Rule: Do unto others on the internet, as you would have them do unto you on the internet.

- A good digital reputation has great value within the internet society. More people are willing to work and communicate with a person who can be trusted with not spreading malicious viruses or software, making mature and wise decisions on social websites that do not run the risk of offending anyone, and not run the risk of fraudelent purchases.