Digital Citizenship (Meaning and Explanation)

We explain what digital citizenship is, the areas in which it is applied, its risks and benefits. Also, other digital concepts.

What is digital citizenship?

The term digital citizenship, also known as e-citizenship or cybercitizenship, refers to the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and the principles that guide them, for the understanding of the political, cultural and social affairs of a nation.

In other words, it is the citizen participation through digital environments and interfaces or electronically, through the Internet and Social Networks.

Digital citizenship is part of the electronic government system or digital democracy, which precisely consists of the administration of State resources through the new ICT and all its potential, to make life easier for citizens.

Thus, A digital citizen has the right to access information online in a secure, transparent and private manner in addition to the social and political participation that 2.0 media allows.

Values of digital citizenship

Digital citizenship can be applied to two different areas of life:

Digital education. Through the use of the Internet and ICT for digital literacy and the development of digital skills, to reduce the gap between the different citizens of a nation.
Digital participation. Which is the facilitation of the bureaucratic, political, social or legal procedures of the State, using the capacity of ICTs, seeking to make responsible use of them.

Thus, digital citizenship assumes as its own the values of democracy, applied to the field of ICT: security, transparency, ethics, legality and inclusion.

Risks of digital citizenship

The main risk of digital citizenship is due to the inequalities in Internet access for the different communities of the same country. It is known that not all citizens have physical access to telephone and Internet, despite the fact that today these are considered basic human services. Thus, the advantages of digital citizenship are not available to everyone.

Paradoxically, its democratizing effect would produce the opposite effect in environments where the upper classes have access to ICT and the lower classes do not, or where digital education is reserved for the classes with greater economic power. In that sense, Digital citizenship must be accompanied by intense democratizing efforts to alleviate the digital divide.

Benefits of digital citizenship

The possibilities of digital citizenship are enormous. The speed of bureaucratic procedures, carried out without leaving home; the possibility of participation, making complaints, contact with authorities or even access to digital education through ICTs themselves are some examples.

That is to say, digital citizenship increases comfort and improved quality of life of the people. On the other hand, enables large-scale education and the training of critical citizens, aware of the use of ICT and its risks, benefits and possibilities.

Concepts associated with digital citizenship

digital citizenship e learning education — E-learning is the use of digital media to facilitate learning.

Some of the concepts involved in digital citizenship are:

E-learning A term that applies to learning carried out through electronic mechanisms, which allows taking enormous advantage of the possibilities of hypertext, image, animation, audiovisuals and other available resources.
E-government The so-called electronic government, as we mentioned at the beginning, is a form of administration of state resources that takes advantage of the immediacy of ICT for serving the public, streamlining its own processes and maximizing the reach of its functions. informative measures.
E-commerce This is the term for electronic commerce, that is, the possibility of acquiring or selling goods or services through ICT, or even entering into business associations through them.