Sunday, March 23, 2014

Weekly Report & Reflection #9: Digital Rights and Responsibilities

     Digital rights and responsibilities has also been a primary topic for Week 9’s readings and learning activities.  After reading the articles, I realized that digital rights and responsibilities is a very large topic that can be grouped into subtopics.  There are just so many rights and responsibilities that relate to participating in the online world! Some of these topics include internet safety, cyberbullying, and cyber ethics (Edutopia, 2011).  “Netiquette” is another term that relates to digital responsibilities. These netiquette guidelines illuminate how digital citizens must act online the same as if they were in real life.  The guidelines can specifically relate to e-mail, cellphone, and social media communication too. 

     Communication is a crucial aspect of digital rights and responsibilities.  More specifically, communicating with others for academic purposes needs to be respectful.  While skimming the readings for this week I came across some great guidelines for online student communication (Tucker, 2010).  These guidelines include:

Avoiding emotional punctuation…it is difficult to determine the tone of some people when their messages are filled with exclamation marks and question marks.

  Re-reading messages before sending… make sure it is free from error or mistake.

Keeping language direct… communicating through screens is hard enough as it is!

Use each other’s names… to build better relationships

Ask questions…this will stimulate more conversation (Tucker, 2010)

     I found the best (and by that I mean most interesting) piece of reading material discussing the absolute worst times or places to use phones (Pappas, 2011).  While reading this, be honest with yourself…as was I. Can you recall ever using your phone during these times or places? Did you think it was disrespectful?


The Movies.
-The most irritating thing to me is when people have their bright digital screen up to their face watching the latest Vine video a row ahead of me… My curious eyes are now forced to glance over at the Vine video while watching the movie.  I think that people who use their cellphones during a movie are completely disrespectful and have no care for anyone but themselves.  If I am with someone who is doing this, I always feel SO embarrassed and force them to put it away.

A First Date
-This is just pathetic… If you are on your phone paying attention to the screen more than the newest potential partner then why are you even there?  Clearly people who use their phones while eating a nice dinner (or whatever individuals do these days on dates) are not worth anyone’s time if they are going to be that rude! This makes me so angry… I have had awful experiences with men more interested in their phone more than in me!

Church
-Although I may not be religious, I do know that using a cellphone during church would most likely be viewed as completely disrespectful to any decent person.

Bathroom Stall
-GUILTY! Okay, I admit it… Sometimes I check my phone to see if I have messages while using the washroom.  But take into consideration this is only in my private washroom at home.

Standing in line to check out
-You got me again! Some lines are long so why not speed up the sense of time with a nice Facebook feed or quick conversation with a friend.

When someone is talking to you
-Depending on who it is, I sometimes can be caught doing this (I know, I know, I am a terrible person).  I absolutely hate when people are on their phone when I am trying to have a normal conversation with them simply because most people can not use their phone while continuing to truly listen to me.  They may hear me, but rarely are they listening.

     The rules and standard guidelines of digital communication can be overwhelming.  This is not a pure science as nothing is ever set in stone.  But after reading that article and noticing that I am guilty for using my phone at wrong times in wrong places made me realize that digital rights and responsibilities play a large role in most digital native’s lives.

     The article of interest from my Feedly for this week relates to a large subtopic of digital rights and responsibilities, cyberbullying.  Cyberbullying is a real and growing threat (Belsey, 2007).  The article Secret CEO Responds to Cyberbullying Criticism is of controversial debate right now.  Do we really need another anonymous sharing app? Doesn’t this just support the act of cyberbullying? … Apparently not according to Secret’s CEO.

References

Belsey, B. (2007). Cyberbullying: A real and growing threat. ATA Magazine, 88(1). Available at http://www.teachers.ab.ca/Publications/ATA%20Magazine/Volume%2088/Number%201/Articles/Pages/Cyberbullying.aspx
Edutopia. (2011). Digital Citizenship: Resource Roundup. Retrieved at http://www.edutopia.org/cyberbullying-internet-digital-citizenship-resources
Pappas, C. (2011). 12 Most Inappropriate Times and Places to Use Your Cell Phone. Available athttp://12most.com/2011/08/11/12-inappropriate-times-places-smartphone/

Tucker, C. (2010 ). Top 10 Dos and Don'ts: Online Communication and Cyperbullying. Available athttp://catlintucker.com/2010/12/top-10-dos-and-don%E2%80%99ts-online-student-communication/

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