Digital Aloha Month might be over, but message remains relevant all year

Hawaiʻi Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke visited students throughout the state — from Waimea on Hawaiʻi Island to Waimea on Kauaʻi — to share one message: Respect, responsibility and kindness online.

Although September’s Digital Aloha Month came to a close, the message of digital aloha remains relevant all year.

“I proclaimed September as Digital Aloha Month, but that doesn’t mean as soon as September ends we should stop using the internet in a way that’s respectful,” said Luke in a state release about her journey spreading the message of digital aloha throughout the islands.

Luke proclaimed September 2025 as Digital Aloha Month, a statewide initiative to promote safe and responsible online behavior, while serving as acting governor.

She continues — together with the help of student Digital Aloha Ambassadors — to share and strengthen that message.

“We need to continue to have digital aloha,” Luke said. “We need to practice digital aloha and own our impact, own our words and ensure that we continue to use the internet in a way that will help us, and not as a way to hurt and mistreat others.”

The campaign advances Connect Kākou’s digital know-how pillar, which emphasizes digital literacy, online safety and mindful technology use.

The other two pillars of Connect Kākou — Hawaiʻi’s broadband initiative — are infrastructure, focused on expanding high-speed connections to every community, and devices, which ensure access to the laptops, phones, tablets and other tools needed to get online.

Luke during her visits spoke with social studies students at Waimea Middle School on the Big Island and leadership students at Waimea Canyon Middle School on Kaua’i about THE FIVE PRINCIPLES OF DIGITAL ALOHA:

• Act with aloha.
• Listen to yourself.
• Own your impact.
• Help when you see harm.
• All in this together.

Other Digital Aloha Ambassadors also include students from the Hawaiʻi State Student Council and Hawaiʻi State Youth Commission.

Students and educators reflected on how these principles connect with their daily lives.

“Something that inspired me today was just knowing how you could use the internet wisely — how you could make people feel good, and feel bad at the same time,” said Waimea Canyon Middle School Braylee Hoʻokano in the state release.

The main thing Waimea Canyon Middle School leadership teacher Luke Ferda notices with students today is that their in-person life is totally connected to their social media life — there’s no real separation.

“The same way that you act in person, with aloha, you should be acting that way online, in social media or whatever you’re doing online,” said Ferda in the release.

Digital aloha is Hawaiʻi’s ongoing call to action to practice aloha online — to show kindness, empathy and responsibility in digital spaces.

Students and residents are encouraged to continue living with digital aloha every day.

Visit the Connect Kākou website for additional information.