Digital Footprint

We all have a digital footprint. Even if you don’t want to have one, you do. The thing that sets us all apart is that some people have a positive footprint, and others have negative ones. You can change the way your digital footprint is, but once something is on the internet, it’s there forever. If you don’t have a negative digital footprint, there are strategies that you can follow to ensure that you keep that reputation of that digital footprint, don’t lose jobs because of something you once posted, damage relationships with an unwanted post, and that you can get into your dream school without worrying too much.

Reflection on my digital footprint

When I use search my name, not much shows up and it even tries to correct the name to something completely different, which is hopefully good since it means that there’s not much negativity that can be connected to who I am. I personally never really put much out on the internet that is intruding into my privacy and personal life, which is a way to keep safe.

I don’t think I have a very negative light on my digital footprint which I’m really proud of, but if I want it to stay like this and have more job opportunities and things that could help me out in the future, I will have to stay safe and make sure that my digital footprint is safe and appropriate. My digital footprint is important because even the smallest thing could effect my whole life, that’s why I need to pay more attention to how I use social media and what I share for others to see.

 

How might your digital footprint affect your future opportunities?

My digital could affect my future in a negative way if I am not safe with keeping it positive (and professional when it’s needed). Getting a job is a good example to how it could affect my life because when they search up who I am, they might find little information about me which they might consider is good, but then they wouldn’t have much to reference off of. If something negative does pop up while they do a search on me, it could make me unable to be hired for that particular job, and other jobs if there is a connection between the two companies and they shared the information they had on me. This will affect my life greatly because then it will be difficult to proceed in life and get the necessary things I need to survive in this world, and that would be reflected negatively in the society we live in today.

Another example to this question is if my friends or people I know post something that shows me in a negative light, It could affect how the people who have viewed that photo perceives me. It would ruin my reputation and it could possibly damage connections I have with other people. It could also damage my self-esteem if I very much regret having that photo taken of me, with or without my consent, and that could also hurt how I perform in my everyday life, including my school. Speaking about school, a negative digital footprint would impact my ability to get into schools that have a good performance rate. If I see the photo that is posted I would ask them to take the photo down, but if they don’t take it down, the best way to deal with this would be to contact the site and ask for them to take the post down.

 

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

Three strategies that I can use to keep my digital footprint appropriate and safe are:

I can T.H.I.N.K before I post, which means that what I’m about to post has to go through stages and questions that I can ask myself before I post it. If one of the answers is no, I should not post it. The questions are: is it true? Is it helpful? Is it inspiring? Is it nice? Is it kind?

These questions are important to think about since they are very basic and open, so it makes it very simple to answer and they are the minimum standards for being a good person and for what you should post on your social media so you can keep a good and positive digital footprint.

I can make sure there are no posts of mine that contain details about my private life. If there are posts that contain information about me that I do not want public, (although it wouldn’t remove it permanently and I shouldn’t have posted it in the first place) I could private them or delete them. If I ever want to post something, I can look through it and make sure it doesn’t contain personal information or something that people can look deeper into and find out something about me.

Another helpful strategy might take a big more effort, but it’s worth it. I can make sure to tell people I know not to post things that contain me in them unless I tell them it’s okay. This can stop unwanted drama from people and it would help not stain my digital footprint with negative views of me that would impact my future. It would also stop my personal information from being out in the open. This is important since if they post something that I don’t want on the internet, it could be difficult to take it down before anyone sees it since once something is on the internet, it is basically there forever.

 

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

Some information that I learned which I think would be helpful to tell other students is that once something is on the internet, it’s there forever. Even if you delete it, it’s still going to be able to be pinned to you. It’s important for them to know how much something simple can affect their whole life, and it would be horrible if it was just a mistake that they did once that ruins their whole life. I would also advise them to put all their accounts in private more so unwanted people can’t see what they post, but if they want to share what they post with the world, I would tell them to use the T.H.I.N.K strategy and to make sure they post things that wouldn’t affect their future in a negative way.

I would tell them in a way that is simple to understand, but without them thinking nothing of it since I know that sometimes people don’t know how much futures can be affected with just a simple photo on the internet, even if only one person has seen it (and I would tell them that views don’t matter anyways, it can affect you either way if it’s something bad). It’s like a lock that doesn’t have a key, so don’t post anything that your grandparents didn’t want to see.

 

References:

All of the photos are from Pexels except the T.H.I.N.K poster which is from google images/blendspace