Digital Technology Merit Badge
Nine requirements, and the one that takes the longest hides its own condition in the sentence above the options: each of the three projects chosen at requirement 6 has to be copied to a backup device. The badge also asks for a parent or guardian's permission five separate times, and two of the five routes at requirement 8 are visits to real places rather than desk work.
Elective Merit Badges Merit Badges Requirements Safety Technology
The plan behind this
The sentence above requirement 6's options
Do THREE of the following. For each project you complete, copy the files to a backup device and share the finished projects with your counselor.
Eight routes follow that sentence, and none of them mentions the backup again. It is the easiest thing on this badge to miss, because a reader arriving at requirement 6 is busy choosing between a spreadsheet, a letter, a graphic, a presentation, a photograph, a recording, a blog and a webpage.
A backup device is hardware: a USB stick, an external drive, a second computer, a cloud account your family already uses. Sort out which one before you start, not after three projects are finished.
Permission, five times over
| requirement | what needs permission |
|---|---|
| 1 | viewing the Personal Safety Awareness "Digital Safety" video |
| 5(b) | using an internet search engine |
| 5(c) | connecting to a secure (HTTPS) website |
| 7(c) | reading a report on the internet about an intellectual property case |
| 9(a) | an interview or a site visit, if you take the careers route |
Plus, inside requirement 6, publishing a blog (6g) or a webpage (6h) needs the parent or guardian and the counselor, and their approval before it goes live.
None of these is difficult. The point is that they arrive one at a time, spread across the badge, and each one stops the work until it is dealt with. Raise all of them in a single conversation at the start and the badge runs without interruption.
Requirement 8: two of five, and two of the five are trips
| route | what it costs |
|---|---|
| 8(a) why proper disposal matters, three hazardous chemicals | desk work |
| 8(b) why a certified recycler matters | desk work |
| 8(c) find an organisation online, learn what happens to the waste | desk work |
| 8(d) visit a recycling centre that disposes of digital hardware | a real place, a trip, probably a lift |
| 8(e) find a battery recycling centre and learn what it does | a real place |
You need two. Three of the five need nothing but a browser and a conversation. That is worth knowing before picking.
If you publish it, get approval first
Requirements 6(g) and 6(h) both say the same thing in their last sentence:
You need not post the blog to the internet; however, if you choose to go live with your blog, you must first share it with your parent or guardian AND counselor AND get their approval.
So the requirement can be met entirely offline. But the moment a Scout decides to publish (which is the natural thing to want to do with a blog or a webpage) two approvals are needed, and they are needed first.
What this page is
The Digital Technology merit badge, drawn so the backup device and the permissions are visible before a reader commits to a route. It is not a copy of the requirements and carries no online-safety advice of its own: each step is a short label with a link to the official requirements, which are what actually governs and which change from year to year.
Sources for this page
- Digital Technology Merit Badge Requirements, Merit Badge Hub, last modified 2025-12-31 · The requirements themselves, and the free official pamphlet linked from them.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.0.3 · The process every merit badge is earned through, which this page does not repeat.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.4.3 · Which version of a changed requirement applies to a Scout who has already started.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 4.0.0.1 · Why the requirements are not in the Guide to Advancement and are expected to change annually.
Last checked against its sources on .