My Digital Footprint

When I searched up my name on the internet, I couldn’t find any results related to me. However, when I searched for my Instagram handle, some things popped up that were related to me. I found an image of me and my friends, and some links to some posts I had liked or was tagged in by my friends. Overall, it was nothing harmful, but it definitely let me know that I need to be aware of what I do online, because it definitely can show up on a Google search.

How might your digital footprint affect your personal brand and future opportunities for post-secondary? How might it affect your job prospects? Why is it important to be aware of one’s digital footprint?

When you’re applying for universities, internships, or jobs, many employers (or the equivalent) search you up and do a background check to see what you’re like when you aren’t necessarily trying to look good for them. If they find anything that they deem offensive or inappropriate, it’s likely that you will no longer be considered for whatever you’re applying for, or at least given a lower chance of getting hired. Your reputation will most likely be diminished, and you’ll have a hard time reaching the goals you’ve worked hard for, no matter what your grades were. For example, if you applied to a university you worked hard to meet all the requirements for, you may initially have a good chance of getting in. However, after an admissions officer looks your name up on the internet, these chances may shrink if they find something potentially inappropriate or harmful.

The way your peers see you can be affected by your digital footprint as well. Nowadays, it’s really easy to just look someone up on Google, Instagram, or Twitter, and find their online history dating back to when they were in 4th grade. This makes it easy for people to dig up old tweets or Instagram posts that you made to use it against you. Even if that Tweet you made about how much you dislike Becky in the 7th grade was 2 years ago, as long as it’s been posted, it’s there and will remain that way. As well as that, practically anyone can access this information and unlock a whole chunk of your personal life. Overall, being aware of your digital footprint is incredibly important because small things you don’t even think about can really come back to affect your future opportunities.

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What strategies can we use to keep our digital footprint appropriate?

The first strategy would be to delete or remove posts and accounts. Deleting a tweet, Instagram post, or Snapchat account after you decide you don’t need/want it anymore is a good strategy to keep yourself safe. Often, the things we do online will not reflect on how we feel, act, or think forever. If you keep something up online way after it stops being relevant to you, people may find it and make misconceptions on what you are like that negatively affect you. For example, if you post a picture of you vaping/smoking, then quit vaping/smoking but still leave the image up, it will lead people to believe that you still engage in these habits, and will allow for them to make negative assumptions about you based on that.
Keeping your accounts private. If your accounts are private, that means that only people you approve can follow you. This makes it harder for your personal information to be discovered, because it means that the only way your posts can appear to people who don’t follow you is if they are re-posted by people with public accounts. Keeping your accounts private can assure you that only people you know can see your posts. Of course, there is the slight possibility that someone could screenshot something you put up online and send it to someone else, so in order to keep yourself safe from that, you should always just be mindful in general of what you put up. Another tip would be to always ask your friends to ask you before posting a picture of you, especially if they have a public account.
Finally, you should always keep your passwords secure, different, and updated. By updating your passwords every month and making strong, unique passwords for each account you create online, you help yourself become less at-risk to hacking. Personally, I know a lot of stories and anecdotes of people whose accounts get hacked and their personal information becomes leaked or stolen. You should always have unique passwords for each account you make, so that if someone guesses one password to one account, they don’t have the password for all your other accounts.

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What is digital permanence?

Digital permanence is the concept that anything you ever post online can never really be deleted. It will always be there, even if you have to sift through 10 pages of Google search results to find it. To put it simply, anything ever put on the internet will be there forever. After knowing this, it may seem scary to do anything online. We should remember this concept because things on the Internet can really affect our lives in huge ways, and something that seems harmless now may become something that you deeply regret in the future. Even if you do delete something, it can still be found online with a lot of diligence, so remember to think about what you’re going to post before you post it.

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