Digital Footprint

How does your digital footprint affect your future opportunities ?

Now that technology is so important to today’s society, I think it is really important to have a good-looking digital footprint. Your digital footprint can totally change how people see you, including employers. There has been many times where someone was fired because of something they posted on social media.  There was one instance where a daycare worker had posted photos of children in her daycare. One of the students there had delayed speech development, and the worker posted a photo of him with the caption, “He is thinking cuz sure can’t talk.” This worker got fired shortly after her employer found out. Anytime she could try to get a job, her employer would probably be able to find those posts.  Another example is when PewDiePie used racist words in one of his videos, which disappointed all his fans. This changed the future of his channel, making many of his followers unsubscribe.

Image from Pixels (https://www.pexels.com/search/social%20media/)

Strategies to keeping an appropriate digital footprint:

I made a little check list of questions to ask myself before I post something.

I’ll think “Is it safe? Will it hurt anyone? Is it appropriate? Is it responsable? Will I be pleased with myself in the future?”  I think this checklist (SHARP) will help me make a responsable decision. Another strategy is to ask a friend to look at the post and see if they think it’s responsable. My final strategy is to think of what my grandma would say if she saw the post. Would she think it’s appropriate?

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

I learnt that even if your account is on private, sometimes it is possible to find your posts. Also, I learnt that your digital footprint can really affect your job opportunities and what people think of you. If I saw a post my friend had posted and I didn’t think it was appropriate. I would ask her/him why she/he had posted it and if she/he would regret it in a year.

Image from Pexels (https://www.pexels.com/photo/access-blur-close-up-colorful-238480/)