Aside from school, I don’t spend a lot of time on the computer, I actually spend hours reading instead. This means that I don’t actually really have a digital footprint. I Googled myself and all I found was that I actually pretty much don’t exist on Google. There is one photo of myself from several years ago that was from me being in the mayday parade. I have a Facebook page that my mom created for me when I was in Grade 4/or 5 so that I could play the games and not ruin all her scores, but that got old pretty soon so my account has next to none activity and any activity that’s there is mostly photo’s that I’ve been tagged in. All this leads up to the fact that my digital footprint couldn’t actually hinder me, but it wouldn’t help me in any situation either. It probably would make it a little bit harder to get into a decent school because one way that the staff is sorting applications is through their digital life… and I don’t have one. They wouldn’t be able to get a good read on me and would probably get to the next application who would have the same IQ level as me and similar prospects on my application except that she/he would be accepted ahead of me because he/she would have a digital footprint backing up everything that was on the application. So it makes sense that I wouldn’t be the first choice for anything that I apply myself to. However, on the flipside, they could treat it like a judge dismissing a criminal case for lack of evidence, and would delve deeper to decide whether or not I was a qualified individual by asking/searching people, or their digital life. But I believe that would only happen if they were extremely impressed by my prospects. In either of these situations, it makes it a lot harder for me, and others, to succeed with where I want to go in life without an updated and well-informed digital footprint.

1. Before joining a website/social media group/online club/ forum/ group chat/etc. I would make sure to research all the privacy settings for this online “whatever you choose to join”. I know that I would disclaim about my privacy rights, keep who I talk to and/or friend online to a minimum, see who has access/and can post stuff with your photos/information in it, and even follow the updating privacy usage rights just in case it changes and you weren’t aware.
2. You can also have separate accounts. A public one, that you can use for jobs and school, posting about stuff that you’re proud of- maybe even things that could be proof of your qualifications as a something for whatever you might want to be/do someday. And then you can have a private one, where you are still cautious-following all the things we talked about in “1.” but can show more of your personal life- however, note that when someone wants to they can always find you/look at your digital self so don’t post/or have friends who would post things that could diminish your public persona.
3. Don’t ever post about an event within a day of it happening. Emotions always change a person’s outlook and values and can change their morals as well. If something happens and you post/blog/talk about it right away you are more likely to post something hurtful to someone else, as well as yourself. Also, always revise/or have someone else your post/blog/message before sending it online. If you come off with a certain tone that you didn’t mean, or is disrespectful, it can change how people think about your personality (And the post won’t go away, so anyone could be like “she must be a really bad person to say something like that”, when it’s probably not true.
4. Delete/unsubscribe from your old/unused/publicly unappealing online accounts. Even if you think that no one knows that you ever had that account. Someone knows, and most people can’t keep quiet about a good story, so if one person knows- so will another and another.
5. Finally, don’t be stupid. If your going to do bad stuff online or post bad stuff online, (which I am highly against but felt the need to put this in here) do it without using your information. Log out of accounts when not using them, or when you wouldn’t want them to monitor your activities- which I assure you some of them can do.

         Throughout this article, I have learned and would like to pass on that even when you think you’re safe online, there’s always that one thing you missed so be strategic when using the internet. Plan ahead and think about whether you would want everyone you know to see what you really do online. Also, while having a bad footprint can quite possibly ruin the chances of you ever going anywhere in life, not having one can be almost as bad. If people don’t think they can verify what you say/claim they’re most likely not going to do the work and actually dig into who you are, they’ll move onto the next person who does have a good digital footprint. Having a solid and beneficial digital footprint can even up your persona in someone’s eyes which could boost you higher above everyone else.

“In the future, your digital footprint will mean more than anything you can put on a resume.”- Chris Bether