Global Digital Citizenship Scenario

GDC Scenario

The following is a real story that happened in Vermont, New Hampshire in 2003. Ryan was a middle school student who used to be bullied by one of his classmates. One day, they had a fight at school and after that the bully became his friend in order to get information about Ryan and use it against him. Then, the bully started the rumor that Ryan was gay. After a couple of days, Ryan started a friendship through messenger with a girl who told him that she liked him. Ryan, thinking that she was an honest friend, told her very personal issues through messenger and she shared those with other people in order to humiliate him.  As a consequence of the rumors that the bully and the girl spread, Ryan could not handle the situation and killed himself. After that, his parents found conversations in his computer with a boy that his dad did not recognize. Through these conversations they talked about how much they hated the people that bullied them. In addition, they exchanged information that they found on websites that taught them how to painlessly kill themselves.  

In this case, parents went public and seven months later, the governor signed a Suicide Prevention Law (ACT 114). His dad gave speeches at schools in other states about his son's story and to encourage parents to be more attentive on their children's use of technology. 

Ryan's parents reflected on this, too late. They should have had conversations with him to emphasize the importance of not sharing personal information through social media because you never know who is actually on the other side of the computer. 

Teachers and administrators play an important role in teaching students how to participate safely, effectively, and responsibly on social network sites, because lack of knowledge on global digital citizenship can lead to cyberbullying. Knowing the consequences that their choices could have helps students to be more responsible and use technology with empathy.