How have I kept my digital footprint clean?
When I searched up my name for this assignment, I was pleased to see nothing pop up. I searched my full name, nicknames, first name, last name, and nothing. I couldn’t find anything about me. I think that it is pretty good to have nothing about you on the internet. I mean of course there is, it is just someone would have to dig a lot deeper to find out about me. Now how have I kept my digital footprint clean?
To start off I do not have every single social media. Instagram, Snapchat, discord, YouTube, are the main social media I use. Process of elimination. Discord I do not use my name at all, and you cannot even find users by simply searching google. You must have a tag along with a unique username. Snapchat if you have mutual friends with someone and search up their name on the platform it will pop up first because you have mutual friends. Snapchat you can’t see what they’re up to and they must add you back. Although I was able to find myself and it very much is a possibility, I could just add you back and not pay attention to who you are. You will not find anything because I rarely post anything on my story. I think I popped up both times maybe because I was on the same phone, I am logged on. Some people may say” Duh of course you’re going to pop up if you are on the same phone”. To that I say I wasn’t logged on said account at the time I logged into a different account to see if it did. That may have impacted the results but who knows.
That doesn’t work. Instagram I only have my first name. I don’t have my last name. If you are trying to find me on Instagram and let’s, say, there’s someone that you follow and that follows you. If me and that person follow each other too and you type Caleb in the search bar of Instagram I will most likely pop up as we hypothetically have mutual followers. Then that would work. As you can see, I didn’t pop up when I searched my first and last name. On the other hand, I was able to find my Instagram by just searching my first name. That was not a result I was expecting at all as I thought” Caleb” would be too broad.
I don’t post anything except for pictures of nice views I see or the sky. Nothing personal in case someone for some reason they want to find out where you live. That’s not really something you can tell a lot about. A lot of people post a lot on social media, and I mean every day because they’re addicted to it. That is not what you want. For me I went a while without Instagram then I just re downloaded it. It is not like I had an issue with it, I just wanted to see how long I could go without it.
TikTok on the other hand during grade 7 and 8 was a problem. The app is so addictive if you see a video, you don’t like it you can simply scroll. The algorithm it has is very complex and effective. For the sake of my addiction and my grades I deleted it. Haven’t genuinely used it since mid-grade 8. One of my friends or an old friend I guess is severely addicted and can’t go a day without it.
I say don’t spend too much time on social media and DO NOT fixate on it. A lot of it is fake and someone’s luxurious life could just be tax evasion, illegal methods, drowning in debt. You never know. For a word of advice not from personal experience I would say do not go around saying vile and disgusting things to you as people can track your IP address and quite literally find you. Flexing on social media and posting where you are isn’t good as people will find your house and rob you of the things you flexed online and other valuables. A reason why not to flex or post your location if you flex a lot or are famous and have people that want to rob you is because you could get robbed or killed. PNB Rock a rapper who was killed in a robbery gone wrong in LA was robbed because someone posted his location on Instagram. They saw where he was got their buddies robbed him and killed him.
So, my advice on how to keep your digital footprint clean is do not say controversial or bad things. Do not get too attached and if you notice it is a problem ask for a friend to help you out. I don’t recommend putting your full name or last name, the first name should do. Always be aware what you’re posting, does it contain your address, could someone easily find you. Just be mindful.