Reflection

When I Googled myself, I didn’t find anything that was too relevant to me. I used my name and last initial, first initial and last name and every combination in between. I found that my family is very popular and visible in the Philippines. I also found that my grandparents are there more visible online than I am. I also found that the things that did show up were not very up to date. There was a project I did in grade seven, a document about a reward I won in grade 7 and a PDF file that my basketball coach from a long time ago posted. I don’t think that’s a good thing. See more about that in my conclusion.

How might your digital footprint affect your future opportunities? Give at least two examples.

Your digital footprint can affect your future opportunities and you have no control over what’s already there. Once you post it, your future employer could see your Instagram, Facebook or Twitter feed, that could go two ways. They could love what they see, if it showed a digitally responsible, well rounded person.  Or just the opposite could happen, they could see a totally irresponsible and careless person.

Your digital footprint can affect something far more important than job opportunities. It can affect academic opportunities, such as scholarships, universities and colleges. For example, if you were applying for the Technology Addiction Awareness Scholarship from some place in the U.S. If someone were to go onto your Instagram and see that you post to your story every five minutes, they could deem you ineligible for that scholarship.

Describe at least three strategies that you can use to keep your digital footprint appropriate and safe.

            There are quite a few strategies that you can use to keep your digital footprint safe. I’ll try and come up with some that are more original than just “keep your account on private”.

One strategy that can be helpful is to google yourself. You won’t know what is out there until you look. You don’t need to spend all day looking at Google’s search results after you Google yourself, you can simply type your time into the little box once or twice a month.

Another strategy is to always be mindful. Before you post take the time to think about why you are posting this. Are you trying to be funny or cool? Chances are, if you’re just posting to make yourself seem different than you are that will not affect you positively in the future. You should also be mindful and think about if this could offend someone in a way that you are not okay with. What I mean by that is that you can’t make everyone happy and you should always be you.

My third  strategy is to watch what you use for usernames on your accounts. I feel like usernames like CoolGamer123 and Will_1001 are better left for gaming and not social media. You shouldn’t use your first or last name for gaming, but don’t be afraid to use your real name on platforms like Twitter or Facebook.

I have one more tip for all of you, first impressions are everything, and you should treat them as such. In person, first impressions are based off how you stand, how you dress and how you speak. Online, they are based off your username, profile picture and bio.

What information did you learn that you would pass on to other students? How would you go about telling them?

Something that I think everyone should know is that just because your account says private, it’s not completely private. I would tell them this by doing an activity like the one they did in that video we had to watch beforehand. I feel like many teenagers also have too many social media accounts. Spam accounts aren’t necessary, and you are just expanding your digital footprint while using them. Keep your accounts all on a list and don’t let your list exceed three or four. You want to have a manageable amount that won’t control your life.

In conclusion, I learned a lot during this project.  Some key points I learned are that my family is more visible online than I thought. I need to step it up and not be afraid to post and share my good ideas after editing them and making sure they are appropriate to post. A good digital footprint can make all the difference in career and academic opportunities; I should use the impact they make to give myself edge and an advantage.