"If all your friends jumped off a bridge..."

    Being able to hide behind the (supposed) anonymity of the Internet, to assume a persona, to create an avatar that is the polar opposite of one's true appearance - all of these factors have contributed to a blurring of the lines between free speech and socially unacceptable behavior by tweens and teens. Misguided by the belief that, on the Internet, no one knows who you really are, young people will engage in behaviors that they would likely never attempt in the face-to-face real world. The most common response to, "Why did you do that?" is, "Everybody does it." How do we begin to teach socially responsible social networking to children whose characters are still developing? And how do we know that the message we send has been not just merely heard but actually internalized? As author Annette Lamb points out, "...just because a student provides the socially acceptable answer does not mean the child understands the underlying moral issue discussed." (Lamb, 2010)
    Rather than focus on the right or wrong behavior in a specific situation, Lamb recommends providing opportunities for children to develop their moral reasoning abilities through the use of decision-making scenarios that are generic, rather than personal. Work should be done in small groups, using such methods as brain-storming, debates, discussions, role-playing and simulations. (Lamb also mentions lectures, but those of us who work with tweens on a daily basis know this strategy is likely to lead to them tuning out after the first few words.) As tweens and teens grow more comfortable with the process and feel more secure with the other members of the group, more personal topics may be introduced. Lamb concludes that it is not enough merely to provide students with guidelines for acceptable use of the knowledge they access and share - librarians must teach students how to make ethical decisions regarding that knowledge.

References:

Lamb, A. (2010). Everyone does it: teaching ethical use of social technology. Knowledge Quest, 39(1), 62 - 67.