Your Digital Tatoo

 YOUR DIGITAL FOOTPRINT

This week we are looking into one of the scariest topics for people like me who are on the fringes of social media culture: the topic of digital tattoos, better known as digital footprint or digital shadow. A quick internet search revealed that digital footprint is defined as “the unique trail of data that a person or business creates while using the internet.”

Just like other topics specific to the digital space, it seems that there is a veil that covers the topic of digital tattoo. The average internet user does not stop to think about the fact that she/he leaves a data trail on the internet that can come back and haunt them in the future. Furthermore, we do not have control over how and to whom our data is disseminated or for how long yet the internet is replete with the drama caused by the trails left by internet users in their private and professional lives.

Most of us did not ask ourselves these questions when we all jumped into the digital world bandwagon.

As educators striving to teach our students how to use the internet and social media more intentionally, we will do well to teach them to think twice before posting on social media and of the permanent nature of their posts. As students grow older, digital tattoos can have a negative impact on job search, relationships as well as a whole host of unintended consequences.

Source Image: Communications of the ACM

I- FOCUS ON USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO DO GOOD

One of the ways our students can navigate negative consequences that might come with social media use is to use social media to do good. After all, this is a platform which in itself is neither good or bad; it is the way we use it that can be either good or bad. 

Source Image: Translated Digital Marketing

Social media platforms are particularly efficient for drawing attention to a specific cause and to obtain either signatures or funds to push that cause. As an example, social media “provides a platform to educate an audience about environmental issues and to inspire people to take action”.

Source Image: Earth.com

Social media can also be used to help make a change in the lives of the less fortunate. Writing as I am from West Africa, I was reminded of how connected we are (the wifi is working today) and yet how great are the disparities between us and how much we could help through this great medium of social media.

Source Image: the Bibliotheque National du Benin, West Africa, author Karen S

I believe that we can teach our children that while we use social media for other adventures, the true use of social media is so that we might change the world, one post at the time. At the same time, we can teach them to be aware of what they post since, nothing in the digital world disappears.

Source image: Oval Speech Bubble

II- THE LESSON

The one recurring lesson here is that social media will achieve for us what we intentionally intend for it to accomplish. Truth be told, while it is better to think twice before posting anything on social media, it is even better to always use social media to do good.

 

III- WHAT IS MY DIGITAL IMPRINT?

Even though I do not have a very active digital life, I found that a lot can be gathered about me online. Using Google, instant Check mate, USA public data search, Truthfinder, Facebook, Duckduckgo, and bing, I was able to see that one could pretty much gather all information about me, my family members, work experiences, and place of residence. I even found out that there is "possibly a criminal record" attached to me. I guess my life is more interesting than I thought.

In retrospect, while there is a lot of information about us online, you cannot trust everything you read. We still do need to interact with one another to get the clear picture.

1. Google

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Instant check mate and truthfinder