Digital Memior

What is a digital footprint? When things you have said, done or posted are on the internet or social media that are traceable to you. Most of the time when people hear the words digital footprint they get nervous because they might not have a great history and people are able to see it if they look hard enough. Digital footprint isn’t always a negative thing. Society has put a negative stigma around it because they are scared of it. People’s digital footprints are hard to keep private these days. Anyone in the world can look up your name and something related to you might pop up. Would you want it to be a good result or a bad result? It’s important to know what kind of mark your leaving of yourself on the internet.

If your digital footprint was nothing but a clean slate with positive things said about you as a person, Would you want people know it was you? I personally would want people know it was me and all the good things I have done. Putting your name on your digital footprint isn’t always gonna slap you in the face later. “Students need to learn that using their real name online is not always a bad thing, it is part of creating a positive digital footprint that will be seen by others” (Pg. 1). In a world that is a majority of negative digital footprints, it is somwhat rare to see someone with a postive footprint. It is a good thing to put your name on your social media and online accounts to build your digital footprint.

How is digital footprint used in a negative way? Digital footprint can be used in many negative ways such as bullying, blackmail, bringing up a negative past or even used to break up relationships and ruin friendships. If you have to stop and think about what you’re posting, tweeting or writing online and if it is offensive or mean, then it probably is. “The r-word hurts. Even though many people are trying to keep others from saying it, it’s a big part of many kids’ vocabulary. I remember when we did our first session on trying to stop it from spreading, a man in our group said that it’s set in stone in our minds, and that some people say it without even trying to. I think that this is true, but horrible. I don’t think that it has to be, it just is” (pg. 2). People today have no issue writing something behind a screen because it won’t have consequences towards them in real life. People find it easier to be more offensive because they simply don’t care. Celebrities are the number 1 victim to this. I have seen it first hand where people like celebrities such as James Franco, Jonah Hill, Drake and even Elon Musk have been considered “cancelled” for things that have come up from their past digital footprint that fans or media outlets didn’t like or they found to be offensive. Learning to grow and change to become a better person is all that most ask for when people are called out on old comments that resurface but some people don’t believe that they should change who they are.

Using a digital footprint today can be quite embarassing for most. People will be able to see how annoying you were in middle school and how different you acted in high school. It isn’t always embarassing though. As you get older, you start to look at digital footprint different. You start to value the memories you have and how you have grown over the years physically and personally. I don’t know about others but it’s crazy when I look back on social media from when I was 12 and now at 18 knowing that I will always be able to re-visit these memories and moments. “I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to do with my blog and with my service work. I’m learning more about the different ways in which people use blogs, and I have some ideas about what I want to do here for the next year. I like the idea of trying to use my blog as a way to share ideas for how people could do small things to make a difference for ANY cause” (Pg. 2). People used digital footprint to also cause change or spread awareness. Not only does this follow them but it’s making a choice to express yourself online. Your accces to the internet is important in today’s society and generation. Social media is used majorly to express who you are as a person.

What I have concluded from this blog is that digital footprint can be used in many different ways. In today’s day and age, it isn’t used as positively as people wished. To my generation digital footprint is not a good thing. Teenagers today don’t care about what they post online because they think it won’t affect them. People will post pictures of other people to embarrass them and blackmail them. Digital footprint isn’t always negative nor is it always positive.

“iPhone – First Day” by frogsthatmoo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.