Published on: January 11, 2025
From free VPNs to popular messaging platforms, some of the most popular tools and habits you trust might actually be putting your data at risk. In this interview series by Safety Detectives, I invite cybersecurity experts to reveal the most dangerous mistakes millions of people still make, and their top tips to avoid them.
My guest today is Diana Graber, M.A., a prominent digital literacy educator, author of Raising Humans in a Digital World: Helping Kids Build a Healthy Relationship with Technology, and winner of the Media Literacy Teacher Award from the National Association for Media Literacy Education in 2017.
She gave me a walkthrough of the two digital literacy programs she founded: Cyber Civics, an innovative digital literacy curriculum for grades 4-8, and Cyberwise, which provides resources for parents and educators about online safety and digital literacy.
What inspired you to start Cyber Civics? What are the main goals you want to achieve with this program?
In 2011 I completed a Master’s Program in “Media Psychology and Social Change” and authored a paper for the Journal of Media Literacy when my children’s school experienced its first cyberbullying incident. Watching the school’s principal try to navigate his way through the event made it clear that children would need lessons on how to use technology safely and wisely. That’s when we started developing Cyber Civics
Fast forward to today, Cyber Civics is now being taught to 4th-8th grade students around the world, with a 98% renewal rate.
What are some key topics covered in the Cyber Civics program, and how does it specifically address privacy and online safety?
Cyber Civics covers the entirety of “digital literacy,” from online reputation to privacy, cyberbullying to misinformation, hate speech to online safety. There are entire units (several lessons) on both online safety and online privacy.
In what ways is Cyber Civics different from other digital literacy programs? What are the flaws you wanted to fix, and why are they so crucial?
Cyber Civics is different as it meets students where they are developmentally and sequences topics so they make sense to developing brains. It is a teacher-led program, giving students the important opportunity to discuss and debate topics with their peers. This is how they negotiate the norms of behavior they will exhibit online.
In addition to this, Cyberwise is our parent site full of FREE resources and information for parents who want to learn how to support children in their digital lives.
In your experience, what are the skills of digital literacy everyone should learn nowadays, but are still too often overlooked, and why?
The most important digital literacy skills are social-emotional and behavioral skills. Our aim is to teach students how to be good citizens, online and off.
For example, social-emotional and behavioral skills are vital for avoiding online scams:
- Emotional awareness helps you recognize when feelings may cloud your judgment
- Self-regulation fosters impulse control against enticing offers.
- Building emotional resilience enables you to resist manipulation
- Strong social connections provide support and collective vigilance.
- Critical thinking and skepticism encourage you to question suspicious communications and evaluate trust in online relationships.
Together, these skills enhance an individual’s ability to recognize, resist, and report scams, promoting safer digital interactions and protecting against fraud.
Social media is part of everyone’s life today. What steps can we take to develop healthier social media habits?
Students who take Cyber Civics learn how to be good social media managers, they are mindful of their digital reputations, understand that behind every screen is a real person with real feelings, and they learn how to balance their time between online and offline pursuits. In addition, they are mindful of the persuasive technologies tech companies use to capture and hold on to their attention and they learn how to use social media in positive and productive ways.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
We are very excited about our new curriculum for 4th and 5th graders called “Digital On-Ramps.” In addition to being easily implemented in schools, is really easy for homeschoolers to teach as well.
Connect with Diana Graber
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cybercivics/
X: https://x.com/cybercivics?lang=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cybercivics
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cyber.civics/