THE IMPACT OF BELONGING TO DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The impacts of belonging to digital citizenship range from the need for digital literacy to widening generation gaps. The so-called cybercitizenship consists of the assimilation of cultural, political and social issues related to the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

Digital citizenship also encompasses a sum of collective principles such as ethics, security, legality and responsibility, related to the use of the Internet, available technologies and / or social networks.

The existence of a digital citizenship makes literacy in this area necessary. Source: pixabay.com

In other words, digital citizenship refers to the rights, duties and values ​​that every citizen has applied to new digital trends. For this reason, responsible citizenship is exercised when the individual can participate in cultural or political affairs through the use of technological means.

Areas of digital citizenship

Digital citizenship is usually associated with two areas in particular: education and access and participation. In the first case, ICTs are used to promote digital literacy and to develop technological skills; In this category, educational institutions are usually involved together with students and teachers.

Regarding the category of access and participation, it refers to the right of every citizen to access the Internet, as well as the right to electronic democracy and responsible exercise.

One of the most popular trends within the area of ​​education is the prevention of the risks posed by ICT, especially for minors. This is because children and adolescents are prone to, for example, cyberbullying, which is a challenge for the institutions in charge of new technologies.

In the same way, within electronic democracy one can also find the construction of tools to enforce said democracy. This means that ICTs are being widely used to communicate the procedures and transparencies of governments.

However, these technologies can also be used to manipulate citizens in the case of a corrupt state; this also implies a challenge for authorities and creators of digital media.

Impacts of belonging to digital citizenship

The introduction of a digital citizenship brings with it a series of consequences and impacts that can be both positive and negative. Among the main effects associated with digital citizenship, the following stand out.

Enhancement of generation gaps

The use of ICT for all those who were born after 1980 is obvious and simple, since it is about the generations that were formed when technology was already available to the public; in other words, they are people who were born and developed during the boom of digital technology.

However, people born between 1940 and 1979 are individuals who were only spectators, without participating directly in the radical changes that were manifested in the technological field. For this reason, it can be established that ICTs promoted the generation gap between generations to some extent.

To solve this dilemma, many organizations have been created dedicated to teaching older adults the use of new technologies. This is to ensure that each person, regardless of age, can enjoy the benefits of digital citizenship.

In addition, this teaching is part of the digital literacy that all institutions, both public and private, must ensure.

Creation of digital divides

Digital citizenship has not only strengthened generation gaps to a certain extent, but has also created so-called digital gaps, which consist of the distance that exists in the use, access and appropriation of technologies in the socioeconomic and geographical areas.

In other words, digital gaps refer to social inequalities that are linked to the use of ICT.

It is necessary to clarify that the digital divide is related to the quality of technological tools and their infrastructure, which includes all connections and devices.

Similarly, this gap also includes ignorance of the use of technologies by users. Therefore, there are social inequalities in the way in which citizens approach or distance themselves from ICT.

The need for digital literacy

One of the consequences of digital citizenship is the need to technologically literate citizens, since the use of ICT has become a requirement for all social areas, especially for work.

Consequently, digital literacy consists of the ability or ability to organize, locate, understand and analyze certain information based on technological use. As digital skills develop, the requirement to know this new language becomes more demanding.

For this reason, many institutions try to instruct their students, workers or employees in the management of these skills.

In conclusion, it can be established that digital literacy in our days has become something completely mandatory within the different work and academic areas.

An information society

Due to all that the use of ICTs entails, it has been determined that today the human being develops in an information society; This means that the distribution of digital knowledge plays a fundamental role within different social environments.

In fact, the concept of “information society” tends to have a rather political charge, since it is often expressed as a strategic aspiration that seeks to overcome social stagnation.

Authors such as Yoneji Masuda (who spread the term) have established that the information society is one that is mediated by the Internet, which has implemented a new model of social organization and has introduced new forms of interpersonal relationships.

The development of

E-government, also known as electronic government, consists of the use of information and communication technologies for internal government processes; In other words, it is a new way of relationship or interaction between the governments of the world and their respective citizens.

This new form encompasses the implementation and development of computer tools within certain political, economic and social aspirations.

Other authors define electronic government as the search to facilitate the organization of public management through the introduction of new information and communication technologies. E-government is considered one of the most notorious effects of the development of digital citizenship.

References

1. Díaz, C. (2015) Impact of the digital citizen program on the incorporation of ICT. Retrieved on June 6, 2019 from Científicas: rcientificas.uninorte.edu.co
2. (2016) Digital citizenship: dangers due to the misuse of social networks. Retrieved on June 6, 2019 from Campus Educativo: campuseducativo.santafe.gob.ar
3. (sf) Electronic government. Retrieved on June 6, 2019 from Wikipedia: es.wikipedia.org
4. (sf) Information society. Retrieved on June 6, 2019 from Wikipedia: es.wikipedia.org
5. (sf) Digital citizenship. Retrieved on June 6, 2019 from Wikipedia: es.wikipedia.org
6. Tigrero, J. (2017) Digital citizens? The dilemma of young people and the elderly. Recovered from Iberoamérica discloses: oei.es
7. Digital citizenship. Retrieved on June 6, 2019 from the Ministry of Education of Chile: escolar.mineduc.cl