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Loewy was teaching a summer journalism class for middle-schoolers in Princeton, New Jersey, when he had his epiphany. "This generation has grown up with a completely different type of relationship to the media," he said. "They have not seen a newspaper other than their parents reading one. They don’t even watch television—everything is Internet-based." And while such a statement might conjure images of a curmudgeonly cynic convinced that technology is an assault on human intellect, Loewy sees that transformation as positive—or, at least, inevitable. It’s just that today’s kids need much more guidance on how to live within this world, he argues. "They are consuming and seeing so many things online that they don’t know how to put it into context or how to evaluate it," he said.

At the same time, "even schools that have called themselves very technologically advanced haven’t even begun to explore how they actually teach [about that technology]," he said. They may hand out iPads or laptops to students, but such education often stops at the hardware. "Curriculum is the microcosm of what’s going on in society; I think that curriculum needs to catch up with the reality."

Boyd, it’s worth noting, draws similar conclusions:

Teens will not become critical contributors to this [Internet] ecosystem simply because they were born in an age when these technologies were pervasive. Neither teens nor adults are monolithic, and there is no magical relation between skills and age. Whether in school or in informal settings, youth need opportunities to develop the skills and knowledge to engage with temporary technology effectively and meaningfully. Becoming literate in a networked age requires hard work, regardless of age.

After his revelation, Loewy, who spent most of his career as a foreign correspondent writing for major British and Canadian newspapers, started developing what he’s now calling "an interdisciplinary curriculum for the digital age," a.k.a. "Living Online." The curriculum, which is designed primarily for high-school students (though he says it can be adapted for younger kids, too), includes a dozen teaching modules that would be integrated into various classes—from "Privacy" and "A is for Algorithm" to "Digital Activism" and "Cyberpsychology." Other units under development include "Remix Culture," "Gaming in Education," and "Reality—Virtual/Actual." In some ways, it could be described as the liberal arts of virtual living.

The curriculum’s first unit—"Identity"—aims to give students insight "into how their identities may be unconsciously shaped by digital media and online socialization." The module highlights opposing perspectives on the topic, from that entertained by people like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who insists users should only have one authentic identity, to the view that individuals are multifaceted and prismatic. "We will examine how individuals craft and express their identities across multiple online and offline contexts," the summary says, "and discuss the implications of having different identities, avatars, and facets of ourselves across different networks." The idea is to get past the emphasis that adults often make on the perils of Internet identity, to show kids that they’re in a process of discovery and can play with and explore different personas—even if that means an adolescent boy posing online as a 35-year-old woman. And this, to Loewy, is a good thing: "It’s a part of experimenting, exploring who you are, and getting the opportunity to interact with people you normally wouldn't interact with."