Before the Story
“To Share or Not to Share” is a largely standalone story and a good introduction to the tutorial’s content and mechanics because it is somewhat shorter than the others.
One of the biggest ethical decisions young people have to make is how to handle other people’s personal information.
Because nearly all of the services and platforms youth use online are networked, every time a friend or contact posts something, they have to decide whether and how to share it. As well, youth may accidently share others’ personal information when posting things of their own.
Having so much access to their peers’ personal information puts young people in a position of constantly having to make ethical decisions about what and what not to share. Unfortunately, youth often ignore the ethical dimensions of this choice, expecting others to tell them if they don’t want something to be shared.
Prepare students for this story by asking them to list the things that they share online:
- Do they share photos?
- Do they pass on links to favourite websites or videos?
- Do they ever give information to online polls or contests?
Ask how they decide whether or not to share something online:
What makes them want to share something?
- it’s funny, they look good, etc.
What might make them think twice about sharing?
Now ask students how they feel when something relating to them, such as a photo with them in it, is shared by someone else.
- How does it feel when a friend shares something?
- How about when their parents share it?
- Does it matter who sees it (for instance, if your parents see something that you only meant for your friends to see)?