Digital education for adolescents: how to teach young people how to use new technologies
The new generations have grown together with a multitude of devices and the internet as a tool in their development. However, grow up with these technologies it does not ensure a good use of them, even in those young people who have had these screens from very small, case of digital natives.
Being a digital native means knowing how to use new technologies but it does not mean that this use is correct. There is always a lesson to be learned, even among adolescents, who use these devices to move around in a virtual environment full of dangers.
Training and awareness
As has already been said, the use of new technologies is not the same in a child as in a teenager. In this stage young people start using platforms such as social networks and applications of instant messaging where information is shared and where extreme precautions must be taken, such as not sharing data that facilitates the location of children.
Parents should promote the proper use of technologies among adolescents and train them in a way that they are aware of the dangers they face while navigating Internet. The first steps to achieve this goal are the following:
- Develop knowledge about the correct use of ICT devices and applications. Parents should be informed about the operation of these technologies in order to have a base before talking with their children.
- Share activities that involve the use of ICT devices and applications with children. Although teenagers know the operation of new technologies, accompanying them at this time will help them have a partner in these missions.
- Do not give the image that new technologies are a means of entertainment but as devices that help in studies and future work. A window of information and knowledge.
- Encourage other leisure measures. Adolescents begin to gain independence and choose their own leisure plans. The mission of parents is to make attractive playful offers such as sports and reduce the consumption of video games or the time that young people use in front of mobile screens.
- Publicize the limits of privacy. Would they give a picture to a stranger down the street? Would they give their address to a person they just met in a coffee shop? These are some examples that allow young people to see the danger of having their intimate data disclosed through the internet.
Good behavior and critical thinking
Currently no one escapes the use of new technologies. Assuming that adolescents will use these devices, the parents' mission is to make sure that they do so not only in a safe way, but respecting certain House Rules:
- Transmit values of coexistence. Social networks are a platform widely used by adolescents, parents should ensure that their children use the same rules of coexistence in their day to day: respect, no ridicule and to report possible cases of cyberbullying.
- Feed your critical thinking. There is a lot of information on the internet, but not all of it true. Teens should be encouraged to question where they look for these data, to recognize a good source.
- Respect the privacy of others since only their personal data belongs to them.
- Participate with a positive attitude taking into account the diversity of opinions and thoughts.
Damián Montero
