Name-calling. Hurt Feelings. These are some of the heartaches of childhood that we all experienced at some point. These days, with more kids online, these kinds of behaviors aren’t relegated to the schoolyard anymore. Heck, even some adults haven’t figured out how to be polite online yet! Here at PixyKids, we realize how important it is for you to have the tools to help your kids navigate this online world with the best etiquette — or netiquette — possible.
The Basics of Netiquette
The combination of the words “social network etiquette” form what we call “netiquette”, and it helps set some rules and boundaries for how we behave in our online world. While netiquette undergoes sometimes subtle — and sometimes less than subtle — changes along with each new incarnation of technology, there are some fundamental acceptable behaviors. Unsurprisingly, they are a lot of the same values and ideas our parents taught us, but in a new and more complicated context.
Your kids will find better social footing by understanding some of the basic ways to stay sensitized to other people’s feelings online – a place that seems to be moving away from that concept more all the time. The potential to lose sight of the human factor in social media can be easy enough for adults, so it’s no wonder kids can fall prey to the same pitfalls involved with nearly instant communication.
