To say we live in a digital age has become a bit of a cliché,  but it’s true. From how we schedule appointments or make a reservation to how our vehicles operate to devices on our wrists and in our pockets, technology has become a major part of our day-to-day lives. 

The same can be said for children. According to a 2025 study by the Pew Research Center, nine in 10 parents of children under the age of 12 say their child watches TV. Sixty-eight percent say their children use a tablet and 61 percent use a smartphone. Pew Research also found 96 percent of teens across the country say they use the internet every day, if not “almost constantly”. 

It’s that time of year where we take these ever-rising numbers and sit down with experts who can help us apply good digital citizenship when using devices.

“Good digital citizenship is being able to navigate our current media landscape,” Brighton Social Studies Teacher Melissa Crandall said on the latest episode of Connect Canyons. “Finding reliable information, and then being able to pass along reliable information only and not contributing to the mis- and disinformation that is running rampant.”

Crandall has found a number of ways to help ensure her students understand and practice good digital citizenship. She teaches them to know the difference between misinformation and disinformation, and how to ensure they are finding reliable sources. She also teaches them how to use Artificial Intelligence in a responsible way by creating her own chat bot for her students to use and find potential flaws. 

“The internet and media can be very helpful and amazing,” says Crandall, “but it can also be extremely harmful. We cannot keep our students from it, so we have to teach them how to use it appropriately.”