Safe & Responsible Internet Use & Ethical Online Communication [P4C Philosophy & Ethics Lesson]

This ‘Fun Philosophy Lesson’ is focused on philosophical and ethical issues that relate to safe and responsible use of social media and online communication platforms. In this session we explore a broad range of ethical issues around internet use.

This interactive multi-use learning session is useful as a part of your schools PSHE/SMSC provision and is of particular interest to teachers of ICT/Computer Science and Design & Technology; it focuses on a wide range of topics such as:

• Cyber-bullying
• Internet Censorship & Free-Speech
• Piracy & Intellectual Property Rights
• Doxxing
• Staying safe online
• “Screen Addiction”
• The impact of social media on physical and mental wellbeing
• Misinformation & deep-fake content
   
  We’ve aimed to cover as many bases as possible when it comes to finding engaging philosophical and ethical issues for young learners to debate and discuss!

The big question asked in this session is “How should we behave when using social media?”. Using a variety of engaging activities students will discuss and debate a wide range of other philosophical and ethical questions such as:

• Should social media platforms have a minimum age requirement?

• What are some good ways to defuse heated online arguments?

• Is it unethical to use ad-blocking software given that content creators often depend on advertising money?

• Which internet content, if any, should be censored by the government?

• How can people protect themselves against misinformation?
   
  Students will also analyse and evaluate an eclectic mix of philosophical and ethical claims such as:

• “Schools should block all advertisements on the internet using ad-blocking software”

• “It is unethical to use social media to create a false persona.”

• “Parents should monitor their children’s internet usage at all times.” and

• “Anonymity should always be protected: no matter what a person says online”
   
  This session uses our unique format for philosophy teaching resources and features an integrated menu that allows teachers to select from a variety of starter, main, plenary, assessment and end-of-lesson reflection activities. With a massive selection of activities designed to trigger philosophical discussions, debates and reflections: you can re-use the resource numerous times with the same group. For teachers wishing to run ‘P4C’ (Philosophy for Children) sessions these resources are ideal!

The file is a PowerPoint Show: no planning or preparation is required, just run the file and the intuitive menu system will make delivering a powerful philosophy session very easy!