Three Strategies to Keep Your Digital Footprint Safe & Appropriate
First: Check your profile. Make sure there is no personal information that is public. When you sign-up for an account, you don’t have to use true information. You can use a fake name, or birthdate.
You can also check the privacy the settings. Keep a track of who you are following, and who is following you. Make sure you know the people that follow your account– and these people must be seen at school, or during a years time. If you haven’t seen them in a year, or at school, delete or block them.
Second:Think before you post. Not everyone needs to know who you went shopping with, and when. Or the person who disagreed with you. This information can lead to some unhappy people, and maybe less job options. You can try deleted the image, comment, or video– but it is never truly gone.
Third:Keep an eye on your search history. Companies can have access to you internet history, to insert advertisements into your device. Delete your history once in a while, or use a private search engine.
How Your Digital Footprint Affect Your Future
Your desired jobs can be affected. Managers can search your name. Whatever may come up– your social media account(s), or maybe things that you have been tagged in– it’s all there. Everyone can see it. Your coach, parents, family members, teachers, or people you have never seen in your life.
This post could have been nothing intentional. A simple joke with no real meaning behind it. The wording, language, or context, can be taken the wrong way. A spectator reports it. What happens next? The company owner of the job you were offered has misunderstood the tone in that one or two comments in that last post. What next? 63% of hiring managers decided not to hire someone because of a something questionable they found on the internet.
Think before you post. Who will this affect? Does it really matter if I post this rant about the person who I argued with today?
Not everything is worth sharing.
College and University admission can be turned down. Same as employers of companies, they can look through your online profiles. Anything that you have been involved in, can be seen by your future educators and fellow classmates.
You should click that ‘Private Account’ button, check your posts and comments, and read the privacy policies. Things will be more surprising than you thought.
A resume or College/University application is one thing, but in order to find a right fit, they can search deeper.
What Information Did I learn, And What Would I Pass On To Other Students?
I learned that the internet is bigger and scarier than I initially thought. I have to be careful of what I do, and say when I’m ‘Surfing the Web’. There are serious consequences to pay if I don’t think about my actions.
What I would pass on is always look out for yourself, and others. Tell someone that what they’re doing is write, or report to someone about the situation. These posts and comments are not worth risking your life for.
There are also people out there that could use these things against you. Once it’s out there, deleting it won’t be easy. Companies, Schools, coaches, students, etc, can spread news and prevent opportunities for you.
Educate yourself about this topic. It’s interesting to see what happens being the screens. How small things can change someone’s life in an instant. The internet is not worth sacrificing everything for. Treat other’s how you’d like to treated. Build your internet images positively. Be the good example.
I hope you found this info helpful!
- Maebel. S
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