In September, advisement classes had two  digital citizenship lessons. These complement the advisement lessons students completed last year. The two lessons were “Your Photo Fate” and “6 Degrees of Information.” 

“Your Photo Fate” included a video where a teenage girl sends a revealing photo of herself to her boyfriend. Through a series of events, her mother sees the photo. The main point is that once a person sends anything online, it is out of the person’s control.

“Six Degrees of Information” is similar. The experiment in the video was how much information can anyone find about you in just six clicks. The lesson is to be careful about what you share.

These safety lessons are important as the threat of ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also referred to as ISIS) recruiting online is growing. ISIL can find information as easily as demonstrated in the videos even though it is an extremely rare possibility. 

The news frequently references the threat of ISIL. ISIL is recruiting over social media and using propaganda websites through the internet. ISIL recruiters search through social media looking for teens who seem vulnerable and try to manipulate them into joining ISIL.

“Only communicate online with persons [people you] know and trust. If teens have questions, they should talk to their parents, friends, teachers, counselors or clergy. Don’t rely on an unknown person on the internet that pretends to sympathize with [you],” says Mark J. Furtado, head of the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Unit at the Department of Homeland Security.

Recruiting has happened as locally as Virginia. According to the Washington News Post article by Matt Zapotosky posted on August 28th, ISIL recruited 17 year old, Ali Amin, in Alexandria, Virginia, to help send another teen to Syria. Even though Amin never left the country and has never met a member 0f the ISIL group in person, his actions on social media led to his arrest.  This shows the persuasive aspects ISIL can put on teens. Ali Amin has been sentenced to 11 years in prison and a lifetime of probation.

Clicking on a simple picture from Google Images can send anyone to a recruiting website. If you are redirected to another page, be careful and leave the page if it looks suspicious. The U.S. Government monitors who goes on websites using ISIL content.  A magazine that specializes in national defense described the extremes that ISIL uses and the strong counter-measures the U.S. uses.

“Going to those sites are dangerous because they can recruit, send viruses, and it arouses suspicion,” said National and Global Issues teacher Darren Hornbeck.

Being recruited by ISIL doesn’t even need to involve leaving the country.

“Terrorist-inspired attacks [can] involve homegrown actors who have never met a member of ISIS face-to-face, but were likely inspired by social media to commit an attack,” says Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson. This shows that teens inspired by the propaganda ISIL puts online can get them to join and commit a terrorist attack no matter where they come from.

ISIL is a dangerous organization and has a large amount of influence. Remember to stay safe on social media and pay close attention to what you’re doing online by staying on trusted websites. Some tips you should keep in mind from “Six Degrees of Information” are:

• keep the computer in a high-traffic area of your home
• establish limits for which online sites children may visit and for how long
• Internet technology can be mobile, so make sure to monitor cell phones, gaming devices, and laptops
• surf the Internet with your children and let them show you what they like to do online
• know who is connecting with your children online
• set rules for social networking, instant messaging, e-mailing, online gaming, and using webcams
• continually dialogue with your children about online safety