Netiquette

Digital citizenship is teaching our new, up and coming, and existing Internet users proper uses of technology and to not abuse your online rights.  Internet netiquette in general is the proper online behavior in certain social sites such as facebook, twitter, or a simple blog.  Technology is a great resource and necessity in today’s society but it leaves me wondering how it is affecting social skills.  Back when I was growing up, when we wanted to talk to somebody we found them and talked to them face to face or over the phone. 
The Internet is a very useful tool to gain knowledge and learn things that aren’t taught in the classroom.  Most parents think of netiquette as choosing appropriate sites to look at and to make good choices on the Internet.  Most of that is true, but we tend to tell students or show them examples of proper netiquette in the classroom and at home.  Students also need to know about the privacy and proper etiquette in emails.  One website mentions that, don't type in capital letters--it's considered shouting and when posting to a discussion group, don't ramble off the topic (Kendall Hamilton, 1997, para. 6) So basically Internet etiquette is very similar to face to face etiquette, I don’t want to be screamed at and I don’t want to be in a meeting and listen to somebody ramble on about off the topic issues.  My child should learn these in real life so they can become a good digital citizen and make the right choices in online social forums. 
We also need to realize email is another form of communication and some people may take the email a different way than what was intended.  As a parent I want my child to know how he/she is coming off in his/her email or discussion boards.  You can't look across the room in a discussion board and judge their body language or expressions to what you said.  Joe Grimm who wrote an article on email and etiquette says, "Remember that, with email, the sender has little control over what it looks like to the receive" (Joe Grimm, 2000, para. 4).  This is what our children need to realize at a young age so when they get older they understand what kind of weight our words carry and how it might sound to somebody on the other end of the email.
Our children must learn that since they can't be seen that the person on the other end is forming an opinion based on the words they write.  Martha Duffy in 1997 made an excellent point when she says, "No one can guess how old or rich or good looking anyone is; people can be judged only by the way they represent themselves." (para. 2)  This is an excellent way to look at how we should view ourselves when it comes to email or blogs or a group discussion.  Whether we like it or not, people are always forming opinions about us and if we give them a reason to form a misconception then it is our fault.

Bibliography

Duffy, M. (200). Miss Manners on Basic Training. Notes on Etiquette , 40.

Grimm, J. (2000). Ebsco Host. Email and Etiquette , 40.

Hamilton, K. (1997). Internet Etiquette. Communication and Etiquette , 14.