FOSTERING RESPONSIBLE ONLINE BEHAVIOR
(PART II)

By Nancy Willard, Director of the Responsible Netizen Center for Advanced Technology in Education at the University of Oregon

(Editor's Note: Part I of this article reviewed how information and communication technologies and the emerging cyber environment are impacting today's students' learning and behavior. The second part of the article, found below, will offer strategies to address the lack of tangible feedback and perception of invisibility when young people use information technologies. To read the first part of this article, click here.)

Help young people learn to do what is right, regardless of the potential of detection and punishment.

To do this, we must enhance their reliance on their own internalized personal moral code. We must shift our focus away from rules and threats of punishments. Threats of punishment are simply an ineffective approach when the likelihood of detection and punishment is so remote. The message: "Don't do this because it is against the rules" has limited impact if you believe that you are invisible and that your actions cannot and will not be detected and punished.

Instead, we must focus the attention of young people on the reasons for the rules. Rules are generally enacted because actions that violate the rules can cause harm to someone else. So our focus must be on the potential harm, not the rule. In a world where we are invisible, a much more powerful message is: "Don't do this because if you do you will harm someone by (describe the possible harmful impact of the action)."

Help young people understand how actions can cause harm to people they cannot see.

Empathy actually has two components -- a feeling component and a thinking component. When we see or hear someone who is happy or sad, we begin to feel the same way inside. This is the feeling part of empathy. As young people grow, they also gain the ability to understand cognitively how other people think and feel. They learn to look at things from their perspective. This is the thinking part of empathy. Thinking about how someone else feels can also affect how we feel inside. The lack of tangible feedback impairs the feeling component of empathy. We must help young people learn to rely on the thinking part of empathy when they use information technologies.

Help young people learn to use ethical decision-making strategies to help guide their behavior in a responsible way.

These strategies must be effective even though young people do not have tangible feedback and may perceive themselves to be invisible. Here are some of the ethical decision-making strategies that I recommend to young people:

Golden Rule Test

How would you feel if someone did the same thing to you? If you would not want to have someone do the same thing to you, then the action is probably wrong. A version of the Golden Rule is found in every religion in the world. Considering how we would feel if someone did the same thing to us is a powerful ethical decision-making strategy.

Trusted Adult Test

What would your mom or dad, guardian, or another adult who is important in your life think? Your parents, guardians, or other adults who are important to you may not understand the Internet, but they know a lot about deciding whether an action is right or wrong. Considering how your parents, guardians, or other important adult would judge your actions, will help you to act in accord with your family's values.

Philosophers call this the Moral Exemplar. Young people can be encouraged to model the behavior of those whose opinions are important to them. This test also brings in the importance of acting in accord with the values that have been established by the family.

Is There a Rule? Test

Generally, rules or laws have been created to protect the rights of people and to serve the common good. Rules and laws provide good guidance on whether or not an action is right or wrong.

It is important for young people to recognize the basis upon which rules have been created. Rules are created to protect the rights of people and to serve the common good. The focus must always be on the reason for the rule, not the rule itself. This is a very important distinction. Young people may think that if they are invisible and no one can punish them for violating a rule, then the rule is of no importance.

Front Page Test

If your action were reported on the front page of the newspaper, what would other people think? One way to make good decisions is to act as if the whole world can see what you are doing.

The Front Page Test is another decision-making strategy that can help to address the perceptions of invisibility. There have been a number of widely reported incidents where an individual thought his or her actions were private, only to find them ultimately reported on the front pages of various newspapers.

If Everybody Did It Test

What would happen if everybody made a decision to do this? Consider what kind of world this would be if everyone did what you are thinking of doing. You might think that you are only causing a "little bit of harm." But if everyone else is also doing a little bit of harm, then someone else might be suffering a lot of hurt.

This test is an updated version of Kant's Moral Imperative. Encourage students to add up the large amount of harm caused by many people engaging in small acts of harm.

Real World Test

Would it be OK if you did this action, or a similar action, in the real world? Just because you do something in cyberspace, does not mean that you cannot hurt someone. Actions in cyberspace can cause just as much harm to someone else as actions in the real world.

Considering actions in the context of the "real world" can help to create a better understanding of the consequences of actions on unseen others. The Real World Test will help to bring about a better understanding of the real harm caused to real people.

Be the Change Test

Sometimes when people behave inappropriately on the Internet they claim that they are actually trying to make the Internet a better place. Mahatma Gandhi was a great leader in India who led a successful revolution using nonviolent resistance. One of the things he said was: "We must be the change we wish to see." It is a good thing for people to try to make the Internet and the world a better place. But you will be most successful in making things better if you behave in a way that you want others to behave.

Some of what is characterized as misbehavior on the Internet is the result of young people seeking to change what they perceive to be unethical or inappropriate behavior on the part of others. The target of such actions may be corporations or government agencies. Sometimes the target is local school officials.

Our messages to young people are not consistent when it relates to misbehavior that challenges the unethical or inappropriate behavior of others. We applaud the actions of the Revolutionaries who hacked onto the British merchant ships and threw the tea overboard but we criticize young people who hack corporate web sites to post messages critical of the actions of the corporations. Recognizing the importance of civil disobedience as a vehicle to create positive change, it is important that young people understand that they will be most effective in creating positive change when they uphold high ethical standards as they use the communication and information-sharing capabilities of the Internet to address issues that are of concern to them.

Check Inside Test

How do you feel inside? We all have a "voice of conscience" inside of us that helps us to figure out whether an action is right or wrong. If the inside of your body feels uncomfortable, the action is probably wrong. But if you have a feeling of peace and comfort inside, the action is probably right.

The Check Inside Test is an ethical decision-making strategy that can help young people determine whether their actions reflect the values that they have internalized. When your actions are invisible and you cannot directly witness the harm that your actions may have caused, then the internal "voice of conscience" must be heard.

Reflection Test

Pretend your computer screen is a mirror. Everything that you do on the Internet reflects back on you. What kind of a person are you? What kind of a person do you want to become? What do your actions on the Internet say about the kind of person you are?

There is a short story behind this test. In 2000, I presented at a conference on cyberethics hosted by the Information Technology Association of America and the U.S. Department of Justice. Patricia Wallace, author of Psychology of the Internet, was a keynote presenter. She mentioned a research study that assessed influences on honest behavior. One of the interventions used by the researchers was the placement of an unattached mirror in the room with the subject. The mere placement of this mirror resulted in significantly higher level of honest behavior.

Later that day, a member of the audience posed a question to the panel upon which I participated. His question was, "If you were king or queen for a day, what one thing would you do to enhance ethical behavior in the use of the Internet?" The answer that immediately popped into my mind was: "I would install a small mirror on every computer so that more people would understand that what they do on the Internet reflects upon who they are as a person."

The Reflection Test helps us to determine whether our actions are in accord with the values that are an important component of our self-image.

(Taken from introductory materials for Computer Ethics, Etiquette, and Safety for 21st Century Students, by Nancy Willard. To be published by the International Society for Technology in Education Fall 2001.)