Recently, while giving a presentation on "Digital Literacy" to a group of K-8 parents, I shared some
interesting data from a Pew Internet & American Life Project report regarding kids and their online passwords.
In this study Pew found that 30 percent of 12-17 year olds
who were regularly online had shared a password with a friend, boyfriend or
girlfriend, and that almost half of those 14-17 do the same.
In fact, in more than two dozen interviews, parents,
students and counselors said that the practice had become widespread.
When a parent in the room asked me why kids share their passwords, I couldn’t
give them a good reason. So I decided to take this question directly to the
students in my 8th grade Cyber Civics class.
Their response? Simply this: they like to share. Remember, this is a
generation who has grown up immersed in an online world where the ethos of community, collaboration, and networking
is the norm. Here are three examples from their online world:
- Wikipedia: The free online encyclopedia that everyone can edit and use.
- Instagram: The online photo and social networking site that also lets users share what they upload with friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter.
- Flickr: the online photo-sharing website where everyone can upload and view one another’s photos.
The other reason kids like to share their
passwords, according to this 8th grade class, is because passwords are
hard to remember, so it helps to have a friend who can help remember them for
you.
This second reason provided an opportunity to use
a terrific lesson that gives kids a strategy for making and remembering
passwords. This lesson (albeit a bit tweaked) comes from Common Sense Media’s Digital Literacy and Citizenship free curriculum.
For this lesson every student received a slip of
paper with the name of a famous person on it (an actor, musician, political or
historical figure). Their task was to create password using that person as a
mnemonic device while also following five simple rules (parents take note, these rules are for you too!). Every password should:
- Include upper and lowercase letters.
- Include numbers and symbols.
- Be at least eight characters in length.
- Contain no personal information.
- Use no words found in the dictionary.
Kids
love challenges like this one and these students came up with some really creative
and funny passwords. But the best part was the follow-up activity: every
student wrote his or her password on the board, then the entire class tried to
guess the person behind each password by playing a “Charades”-like guessing
game.
Here’s
an example of one of their passwords:
Sfttr24UK!!
In case you can’t figure it out… the mnemonic
device for this password is the singer, Adele. It includes the first initials
of her well-known song “Set Fire to the Rain”, she is 24 years old, from the
UK, and she rocks (!!).
You get the idea.
While it’s always a good idea to remind kids
about the potential downsides to sharing passwords with others (i.e., friends
might post unwanted information or photos onto their social networking sites),
it’s also smart to equip them with practical tools that will keep them safe
online.
It also doesn’t hurt to have a little fun at the
same time.
