Most of the conversations I’ve read about the importance of digital identities (here and here) put the responsibility on the producers of the information to be more aware of what they are posting online. Like teaching students about their digital identity so next time the student will pause to think about what they post online and how it will be with them forever. I think this is important and should be taught in schools as I’ve stated before, but it’s only one side of the issue.
What about the responsibility of the digital consumer?
Because I’m linked with a lot of students online, oftentimes I find myself stumbling into a context of their world not intended for me by viewing pictures or reading blog posts about a person’s social life. It’s information that I didn’t really need to know about the person, nor I assume they intended for me to know. The mixing of contexts is an issue with online social sites and Facebook is trying to solve this contextual confusion by offering the option to segment your friends into groups and define what part of your profile each group can see. I give them points for trying, but it’s not perfect as oftentimes people put you into a “see everything” or “see nothing” group.
The current response I’ve heard is to blame the producers (students) for posting the pictures and stories in the first place. I agree that if students listened to this advice and didn’t post any potentially damaging pictures it would solve the issue, but I think this is unrealistic and students will never fully listen as they haven’t with countless other attempts to curtail dangerous behavior against social norms. I also think it’s a cop-out for the consumers to pass the responsibility off to the producers.
I think consumers need to be taught the ability to pre-filter producer information based on many different criteria. Pre-filtering allows us to take the information and put it into a context that makes sense. It doesn’t mean we should blindly accept all negative behavior, but I do think the consumer should be responsible enough to pause for a moment and reflect before judging.
In a world with increasing amounts of personal information being shared, I think the importance of the responsibility of the digital consumer and digital producer will be equal. It’s time to not just educate the students, but to educate ourselves as well.
Now my question for you – as you surf the web and fall into contexts not intended for you, how do you handle it?
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