Presented at LILAC 2019

1. DIGITAL COMPETENCIES FOR
DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP OF PRE-
TEEN CHILDREN
Some reflections
for librarians
Dr Konstantina Martzoukou – Teaching Excellence Fellow - Robert Gordon University
k.martzoukou@rgu.ac.uk @Dinamartz

2. PLAN
A brief Introduction
 What do children do online?
 Opportunities and threats
Activity (40-45 min)
 Introducing Maddie and 6 possible scenarios
Choose your scenario individually and tweet your choice + a
reason for choosing it to #maddiesonline#
Choose your scenario as a team and debate.

3. 2017 CHILDREN’S AND PARENTS’ MEDIA USE AND
ATTITUDES REPORT
OFCOM’S MEDIA LITERACY RESEARCH PROGRAMME
HTTPS://WWW.OFCOM.ORG.UK/__DATA/ASSETS/PDF_FILE/0020/108182/CHIL DREN-PARENTS-MEDIA-USE-ATTITUDES-
2017.PDF

4. THREAT
S
Safety (personal information, sexual predators
Difficult for parents/children to manage/ awareness or keeping
up
Screen time
Social pressure/identity (e.g. being popular)/ cyberbullying
Complex advertising environment
Photo by Jason Leung:
https://unsplash.com/photos/4PnJV1G
UvVU

5. OPPORTUNITIES WITH DIGITALOPPORTUNITIES
https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/news-features-and-safety-
tips/Pages/Children-and-Media-Tips.aspx

6. GOING ONLINE: REAL AND VIRTUAL
SELF AND PLAY
Roblo
x
Texting and time being
‘plugged in’
Snapchat
Mind
craft
Social media & messaging
/ video sharing
Online gaming
Tik Tok
WHAT DO CHILDREN DO ONLINE?
POPULAR GAMES AND APPS

7. ROBLOX

8. EXAMPLES
Learning about the world,
self-expression, identity
exploration & formation,
acquiring technical skills
How do you make money?
https://youtu.be/JAn0mt0bHt
U
Inspired to be a park owner
https://youtu.be/TpfcKj1TaH
M
From ‘Roblox Theme Park

9. ROBLOX JAILBREAK
Found a helicopter: a “nice” cop came to pick up prisoners.
Are they corrupt?
I am a prisoner and need to escape!

10. This is the military base. You can’t get in! But I managed with the helicopter.On a bike. We bought this one. It is not stolen!
I got a gun and changed normal clothes so policy can’t recognise and off to
robbing.
Shooting. It’s a violent game!

11. I went to steal a bank and I had to jump but I died because I didn’t manage the lasers! The alarm was going off the whole time. I am training to steal.
I got the money, $1,500! Now I can spend it in this game on whatever
I want.
I used dynamite and exploded the roof of this building. I went in to steal.

12. ROBLOX: VEHICLE SIMULATOR
“Teaches you about cars. You learn to drive. You can go on
manual and you can change gears” (8 year old).
That’s me driving a Subaru

13. ROBLOX: ROYALE HIGH
You go to school (and have homework), go to lessons (e.g.
painting), to parties, to the prom.

14. Tried to type: “I live in Scotland” and type in my name – It does not allow you

15. ROBLOX SUPPORT
1. Block and report:
Make sure your child knows how to find and use the report and block functions. Use
the Roblox how to make a report page to learn how to do this.
Safety settings:
Set up the parental controls that are right for your family. You can also disable chat,
set up the Parent PIN and use the Account Restrictions within Roblox.
Settings for under 13s:
There are additional safety features for under-13s , so it’s worth checking your child’s
account is registered with the correct age. Players under the age of 13 have a <13
symbol next to their username on the game at all times, however this is not displayed
to other players.
2. Encourage them to tell you about concerns
Remind your child that they should come to you if they ever see something
inappropriate, mean comments or if anything worries them within the game. If you
know how to report this type of content within Roblox, you will be in the best position
to help them if they need it.
https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/blog/roblox-guide-parents

16. Snapchat
Photo and video-sharing app with filters (and with a twist): media
you send disappear seconds after they are viewed. Messages in
group chat disappear after 24 hours.
There are ways to capture and recover images – a false sense of
“security” (e.g. saving images by tapping them or taking a
screenshot).
My Eyes Only
“If you ever get a Snap that you want to keep extra private, you can
always add it to My Eyes Only! That way, you can hand over your
phone to friends when sharing Memories, without being worried
they might catch an eyeful of something meant just for you 🙈”
SNAPCHAT

17. TIK TOK
Challenges
 Egg challenge #EggGang
 Clothes challenge:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6u
wk2l
 Lip challenge: #kyliejennerchallenge
 Kidlipchallenge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf05
YGj31SM
 #10YearChallenge
Privacy
Private mode: only the creator
can watch the videos
Public: anyone within the app
can see the videos
By default the settings are
public unless a user changes
them
Age inappropriate content
 Self-harm
 Life threatening challenges

18. GENDER STEREOTYPES
Caution: May include upsetting content
Lip challenge going wrong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wykr8O3RKFk
Lip challenge children: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBJRRa_bWHM

19. POSITIVE ASPECTS
RISKS
• connect with friends
• watch videos from others around
the world
• develop and showcase one’s
creativity and talent
• build a community around interests
• create some great special effects
• play and interact with friends
• express feelings
• can report bad content
• Digital Wellbeing feature: control your
spent time on TikTok and limit the
appearance of content that may not be
appropriate for all audiences.
• Screen Time Management: Helps you to
hold yourself to 2 hours on the app per
day (parents set a passcode).
• default public account but also options for a
private account (approved followers can send
you messages)
• strangers could directly contact children:
people can like or react to a video, follow an
account and send messages
• risk taking to get more followers/ likes
• constant stimulation every single moment
• can become addictive
• to delete your account you have to request a
code from the app using your phone
number/email
• children make different types of videos
including sexually suggestive
• no policy to stop young kids to join the

20. MADDIE: INTRODUCING THE STORY
& SCENARIOS

21. SOCIAL SKILLS (SCENARIO 1 & 6)
 Addictive form of screen entertainment.
 May replace learning the hard social "work" of dealing face-to-face
with peers.
 Children are adopting newer social media and games: social
pressure.
 Parents are not always aware of the social issues:
 almost a quarter of 8-11s and three-quarters of 12-15s have a social media profile
 Snapchat has increased in popularity, doubled since 2016 (Snapstreaks: children send
each other messages every day over consecutive days)
 one in ten 12-15s have ‘gone live’ by sharing a video using live streaming services such
as Facebook Live, Snapchat’s Live Stories or Instagram Live, while a third have not shared
content themselves but have watched live streamsOFCOM’S MEDIA LITERACY RESEARCH PROGRAMME
HTTPS://WWW.OFCOM.ORG.UK/__DATA/ASSETS/PDF_FILE/0020/108182/CHIL DREN-PARENTS-MEDIA-USE-ATTITUDES-
2017.PDF
Photo by: Charlein Gracia https://unsplash.com/photos/-
Ux5mdMJNEA

22. SCENARIO 2 & 5
Tweens immature for social media?
Social media was not designed for preteens
(8-12 year olds):
 teaching the maturity that social media
requires is difficult:
 cognitive brain is still forming: can’t
manage the distraction nor the
temptations that come with social media
use.
 “more is better” mentality (friends lists,
followers, time spent)
 parents are not always aware of the
minimum age requirements
 Losing too much valuable time ? Losing
Photo: Brooke Lark @brookelark
https://unsplash.com/photos/ywv6

23. Help children understand the importance of
personal information.
Make use of the safety features available when
setting a profile.
Use available guides on social media.
Set rules around spending money in games.
Moral panic: no need to panic every time you
hear a media report about the harmful effects of
technology and connectivity.
Experiment: Keep up and experiment with new
apps & games so that you can understand them
(new ones appears all the time).
Keep lines of communication open: Mostly about
critical thinking, the values and social skills that
can be taught.
SCENARIO 3

24. SCENARIO 4
Parents teaching children responsible use (Safety, privacy, reputation, time
management), values and social skills at early age
-Keeping the lines of communication open: engaged manner
 Explore favourite tools/games— genuine interest (through conversation, watching or
playing)
 Regular conversations: Work together to find what is appropriate
More parents are concerned about their children’s media use, and more are
taking action:
 regularly talking to their children about staying safe online;
 using technical tools, e.g. network filters to filter content on all devices connected to the
home broadband network has increased;
 supervising their child;
 using rules.
Photo: Tim Gouw @punttim:
https://unsplash.com/photos/LmYcS4nwj8

25. SCREEN TIME
SCENARIO 4
MC & Digital Awareness UK (DAUK) Survey 2,750 pupils
aged 11-18
• Almost half (45%) of students admit they check their
mobile device after going to bed. Of those:
• A quarter (23%) check their mobile device more than
10 times a night
• A quarter (25%) spend more than an hour on their
mobile device after going to bed (just over 11% of the
whole)
• A third (32%) of these students’ parents are not
aware that they check their mobile device after going
to bed
Other findings show that:
• 68% of students say that using their mobile devices at
night affects their school work.
• A quarter of students (25%) also say they feel tired during
the day because of how often they use their mobile device
at night
• Almost half (42%) of students keep their phone next to
their bed at night
Photo: Alex Haney @alexhaney: https://unsplash.com/photos/xWkRYoSf8_c

26. U.K. COUNCIL FOR CHILD
INTERNET SAFETY

27. ‘EDUCATION FOR A CONNECTED
WORLD’:U.K. COUNCIL FOR CHILD INTERNET SAFETY

28. EU KIDS ONLINE 25 COUNTRY
SURVEY (PARENTAL WORRIES)
 online risks – being contacted by strangers (33%
parents) or seeing inappropriate content (32% parents)
- rank 5th and 6th.
 reporting tools: 13% of children who were upset by an online
risk say they have used reporting tools, and two thirds of those
who used them found them helpful
 age-appropriate privacy settings: 43% of 9-16 year old SNS users
keep their profile private, 28% have it partially private and 26% have it
public.
 sexual images on websites:
 14% of 9-16 year olds have seen them and 32% of all 9-16 year olds
were upset by them
 11-16 year olds: 26% hoped the problem would just go away, 22%
tried to fix it, 19% deleted unwelcome messages and 15% blocked
the sender. Only 13% reported the problem online
 Potentially harmful user-generated content: seen by
21% of 11-16 year olds (hate sites, pro-anorexia sites
Photo by Jordan
Whitt

29. E-SAFETY FOR PARENTS
Educating children about the creative and
safe use of technology
http://www.digizen.org/parents/
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/
http://www.childnet.com/parents-and-
carers
https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-
centre/parents-and-carers/resources-parents-and-
carers

30. http://www.digizen.org/parents
/
http://www.digizen.org/resourc
es/digizen-game.aspx
The Digizen website provides information for
educators, parents, carers, and young people…to..
become responsible DIGItal citiZENS…advice and
resources on issues such as social networking and
cyberbullying and how these relate to and affect
their own and other people's online experiences and
behaviours.

31. https://www.childne
t.com/ufiles/Family-
agreement-
template.pdf

32. DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION
A conceptual model of digital citizenship education: 20 Competences for
Democratic Culture that are together frequently referred to as the CDC
“butterfly”: Values, Attitudes, Skills and Knowledge and Critical
Understanding.
https://www.coe.int/en/web/digital-citizenship-education/a-conceptual-model

33. AREAS FOR LIBRARIANS
Clearly define your digital citizenship role
Make greater efforts to engage families in
digital citizenship initiatives/ work (create
your own initiatives!)
Make a case for creating a Digital Officer post
in schools (and be the one!)
Design and promote learning opportunities
and interesting resources to schools and
families
Monitor emerging trends and research
Conduct your own research within context to
better understand values, attitudes, skills.
Help add more to these recommendations!
Photo by: Alexander Dummer
https://unsplash.com/photos/U
H-xs-FizTk

34. RESOURCES
 EU Kids Online: a multinational research network, funded by the EC’s Better
Internet for Kids programme http://www.lse.ac.uk/media-and-
communications/research/research-projects/eu-kids-online
 Digital resistance: https://pjp-eu.coe.int/en/web/charter-edc-hre-pilot-
projects/digital-resistance “To promote digital citizenship of pupils by
supporting the development of digital skills and competences through
inquiry-based learning”
 Ofcom. Protecting your child in the Digital World:
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/7107/managemedi
a.pdf Also published a range of guides
 ParentPort was jointly developed by the Advertising Standards Authority, the
Authority for Television on Demand, the BBC Trust, the British Board of Film
Classification, Ofcom, the Press Complaints Commission and the Video
Standards Council/Pan-European Game Information.
 Get Safe Online, the UK’s national internet security awareness initiative.
Ofcom also works closely with UKCCIS - the UK Council for Child Internet

35. ADDITIONAL REFERENCES
Livingstone, Mascheroni, & Staksrud. 2017. European research on
children’s internet use: Assessing the past, anticipating the future.
New Media & Society, 1-20. doi: 10.1177/1461444816685930
Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., Görzig, A., and Ólafsson, K. 2011. Risks
and safety on the internet: The perspective of European children.
Full Findings. LSE, London: EU Kids Online.
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/33731 Base, Available from
http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/EUKidsOnline/EU%20Kids
%20III/Reports/EUKidsOnlinereportfortheCEOCoalition.pdf
Ofcom, 2017. Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes
Report . Available from:
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/108182/ch
ildren-parents-media-use-attitudes-2017.pdf