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What it means to be a Digital Citizen?

Technology is a crucial part of almost everyone in the 21st century. Almost in every aspect of our lives, technology plays an important role. It also changes the definition of being a member of a society as well as the responsibilities each one of us bear. Almost everyone has the access to the technology and the internet compared to the last century that is why the people living in the 21st century could be called a digital citizen. A digital citizen is someone who is knowledgeable with the use of different kinds of technology. With technology already present from the day we are born, it is not surprising that we will grow up and be familiar the use of the different kinds of technology. As we grow up, we already have the knowledge and skills so that we can effectively use smartphones, access social media accounts, enter educational platform and etc. We use it to communicate, to share knowledge and to participate in activities that we are interested about. For example, we use different social media account like Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and etc. to keep up with our long-distance family and friends. We will be able to know what they are doing and if they are alright in the place where they live. We can also express ourselves through commenting, posting pictures, and videos. We can explore and create online groups where we can start to discuss our interest, hobbies, issues and etc. The most important thing is that we can easily access information or news which can be important to our lives like our health and safety. With this we can be aware and be prepared especially when we know that it will harm us and will result to any problem.

Being a digital citizen also means to become a responsible person in using technology. We must always remember that we have social, ethical and legal responsibilities. Social responsibilities means that we need to communicate online with respect. It is important that we respect other people so that we can expect them that they will respect us too. We should avoid creating or forwarding offensive emails, photos, post or chats about someone else especially when we don’t know the person who is involve in the issue. If we gets bullied and gets any nasty comments online, we should block or unfriend those people who don’t treat us with respect. We must also encourage others to report to trusted person or adults if he/she sees someone who was bullied and being attacked online. We must also need to protect our reputation by understanding the consequences of posting pictures and videos and also sharing our personal information. Things posted online are recorded permanently and maybe it feels okay now but we might notice the difference about this in the future. There are different ways on how we can protect our privacy. The first one is to avoid sharing all of our personal information especially if it’s not compulsory. The second one is to keep our privacy settings updated in our different social media accounts. The third one is to keep our passwords private. Don’t let anyone know about our passwords or create ones that might have anything related to us such as birthdates or cellphone numbers. The last one is to always check our location settings and services on our smartphones and other gadgets so that we can protect our location from other people like hackers.

In ethical responsibilities, we must be aware of the malwares and viruses that our devices can be affected with when we are downloading apps or clicking on advertisement. When we don’t have a prior knowledge about this, it is possible that it can harm and destroy our devices as well as steal personal information. We must know how to explore and discover sites that is trusted, appropriate and safe to explore. We need to learn how to identify and assess these websites. Another ethical responsibility we have as digital citizens is the proper use and disposal of technology. We must be aware of the time we are using our gadgets as it can adversely affect our health in the long run. We must also teach others especially the young people that gadgets like cellphones are not only meant for playing games. We must also control the time they spent using these gadgets to prevent its abuse as well as use parental controls settings to limit the amount of time as well as the content they can accidentally explore or search which can be not appropriate for their age. Another ethical responsibility we need to have is that to assess information we encounter online. We must learn to research deeply and judge whether an information posted online is true or not. We must also teach others especially the young people that not all the information they can search online is factual and they must possess the ability to discriminate what are true and what are false.

Since we can easily access the internet, we need to understand the copyright law and the laws that related to it. It is our legal responsibilities to be knowledgeable about these laws because ignorance of it is not considered an excuse. When we post something or submit school works and we use some information we found online, it is important that we should always give a credit to the owner of the content that we used. We must cite references to show respect to the owner of the information. Using the content of others especially in your research or thesis without proper citing of references can lead to plagiarism which is considered a serious offense and can be punishable by the law.

As a digital citizen, we must know our social, legal and ethical responsibilities in using technology. Technology can be good or bad depending on how it is used but as long as we know and is aware of the responsibilities it entails, we can use technology not only effectively but also in the right way.

#DigitalCitizen

[lrdnmaebndol18]

Why have I chosen the path of teaching profession?

As time passes by, I look even more excited to become a teacher. Seeing some teachers being happy with their chosen profession makes me idolize them. I was amazed when they go to school as early as they can to prepare their lessons. How patient they are when they are explaining the lessons because there are different kinds of students, some that can easily understand the lesson fast, and those that have difficulties in grasping the lesson. As much as possible they want all of the students to learn from them and to mold the students to become a better individual. My elementary days has a great impact in my life, because those are the times that I begin to dream more and believe in myself because it is the key to success.

When I was in high school, my understanding of all the things widened. I became happier because I’ve encountered different types of teachers that influenced me more. I have discovered that I have some hidden talents that I want to develop more. I was in first year when I have joined in dance contest. It was so surprising when our own teacher was the one who will teach us what we are going to dance. I taught that teachers only know how to teach lessons, but I was wrong because the teacher who train us know how to dance and sing as well. Teachers will always support us all the way and if we succeed or won, they are the ones who are the happiest because our success is also their success.

When I graduated in high school, I know in my heart what the course that I want to take is. And it is education. But like other poor families, we are not capable of supporting my college education because we lack financial resources to pursue the course for four years. But still I am given the chance to go to college that time albeit not taking the education course that I want because the scholarship offered to me that time was a two-year course. I was not happy back then because I’m not taking the course that I wanted since I was a child, but in a more practical way I’ve decided to take it because I needed to have a job to help my parents and my siblings. I met different types of teacher again when I was in college. They also have great influence over me. They know that I don’t want the course that I am taking, but they say that someday I will be able to achieve what I want in the right time.

When I was working in Laguna, I got to know a man who inspired me and motivated me to pursue my education again. He was my boyfriend and he was also a teacher. He has helped me to go back and pursue my dreams again. At first I was hesitant to decide whether to continue to study or to continue working. But I realized that it was also my right to reach my dreams again since I was a child. I was so lucky because God gave me a man who would help me to achieve my dreams of becoming a teacher. He motivated me always, especially when I had doubt on myself if I can really achieve those dreams. If I was not believing on myself, he cheers me up and he says that I can. It was a blessing for me because God use him as an instrument to help me. He helps me to understand that education is important, and if I want to achieve something, I should never lose hope.

It was my dream since I was a child. I want to inspire my students like how my teachers did when I was a student back then. I have chosen the path of teaching because I want and I know that I can. I have chosen this because there are a lot of teachers that I admire and inspired me to become one. They are all amazing and it was apt to call them a hero because they create different professions that makes the world goes perfect. God never allow me to take the course back then because He has a better plan for me. He first prepared me by making me more mature and confident through the experiences that I had in my work.  I was so thankful to God because He gave me a chance to prove myself. And I will never waste the chance that was given to me.

#futureeducator #fighting