Bhopal: Digital citizenship and Internet Maturity (DCIM) are critical life skills for the 21st century. These set of skills are becoming relatively necessary in today’s scenario. DCIM are basically a set of skills which helps an individual makes best use of Internet in his or her profession while ensuring safety from online threats and dangers. Digital citizenship and Internet Maturity (DCIM) are critical life skills for the 21st century. These set of skills are becoming relatively necessary in today’s scenario.
DCIM are basically a set of skills which helps an individual makes best use of Internet in his or her profession while ensuring safety from online threats and dangers. Although the blue whale challenge is a lethal online challenge in which a person commits suicide. There are many other dare based games present online who are as deadly as the Blue Whale Challenge. To name a few, the choking challenge where a teenager starts choking himself to get a high. Players’ believe that cutting off oxygen to the brain can result in temporary ‘euphoria.’ They hope to stop just in time. The game is said to have claimed lives of at least a 1000 individuals. Other games include the, ghost pepper challenge, ice and salt challenge, car surfing challenge and cinnamon challenge.
Raghu Pandey, Digital Citizenship and Internet Maturity expert, says that social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram are really powerful tools to socialize and have captured the imaginations of the youth and have hypnotized them, too. Along with the increasing use of internet, the cases related to the cyber crimes and cyber bullying is also increasing. It is high time that we educate not only the children and youngsters but also elder people to use internet with caution so that, they do not become a victim of cyber crime.
He adds that the influencing power of the internet can affect the person psychologically too. Take for example the blue whale game; it is a step by step process where an admin psychologically prepares the victim to commit suicide through a so called 50 step process. The admin psychologically removes the ‘fear of death’ from the victim through these steps and finally the victim commits suicide.
Suhasini, a house wife suggests children should be given access to the internet but along with it one should be present to tell them about the proper and correct use of internet, too.
SAFETY MEASURES
Raghu Pandey along with cyber police of the state, have formed a jargon to stay safe online. The jargon is “FAST CAR & SECRET LOCATION”
* F – FIREWALL (It is the gate keeper of the computer. Keep it pdated as it can protect from online threats
* A – ANTIVIRUS ( antivirus protects the computer from viruses and other malicious softwares. Keeping it updated will protect the computer from virus attacks, phishings etc)
* S – STRONG PASSWORD ( Keeping a strong password is a must. Different password should be there for different accounts.)
* T – TRUST WITH CAUTION ( Trust people online but with caution. Do not share personal details)
* C – CONFIDENCE (deal confidently with cyber bullies)
* A – AVOIDANCE ( avoid antisocial elements)
* R – REPORTING ( most importantly report any nefarious online activities directly to the cyber police.
* SECRET LOCATION – Do not share your actual physical location on any social media sites.
Apart from these, to do financial transactions always use the ‘incognito’ mode of the browser. Change the password of the account frequently,
Raghu Pandey: Internet is a double edged sword. If you are not internet mature then it can harm you personally as well as professionally whereas; learning the tricks and trades of DCIM will prove to be a boon for the netizens.
Suhasini: Always make sure that before giving access to phones and other electronic gadgets to your kids; they know the do’s and dont’s of internet. Make sure the device has an antivirus and a firewall. Always monitor the online activities of the child. Internet is a great source of information and make sure it is used for the benefit of your children as well as society. Awareness should be spread in schools and colleges regarding the fair use of internet.
