1. How might your digital footprint affect your future opportunities? Give at least two examples.

Your digital footprint is something that is permanent, and because of that it can come back to haunt you. For example, when you’re older and looking for a job. In one scenario, your digital footprint reflects a good person and tells the employer or anyone looking at your footprint positive things about yourself, making them more likely to hire you. In another less-fortunate scenario, your digital footprint shows a not so good side of you and tells anyone looking at it that you make not-so good decisions. This would obviously cause employers to be less inclined to hire you as their employee.

Another example might be a school you’re hoping to attend in the future. If your dream school looks at your social medias or posts and they see someone that they would trust to represent their school, you would have a greater chance of getting in. If your social medias and posts reflected a person who is irresponsible and makes bad decisions, the school will then probably reconsider you as a candidate and your chance of getting in drops dramatically.

2. Describe at least three strategies that you can use to keep your digital footprint appropriate and safe.

There are many different ways to keep your digital footprint safe and appropriate.

One way you can do this is by asking yourself if this is appropriate before you post. Sometimes you can post something in a flash of anger or spite, so it’s always good to take a moment before posting to ask yourself if what your doing will hurt anyone.

Another way you can keep your digital footprint safe is by being aware that posting something to a private account doesn’t ensure privacy. People who you’ve approved to see your private posts can still screenshot or capture your post and it can get out into the internet. So being aware of this before putting something up is always good to have in mind.

Thirdly, You can also keep your digital footprint appropriate by making sure the things that you say and show on the internet reflect you as yourself. Making sure that what you’re saying and showing online is something that you would do in your everyday life is a good filter to have on your internet presence.

3. If you could go back in time, is there anything that you would do differently online? Think of what advice you would pass on to your younger self or other students.

If I had to give advice to my younger self or the younger generation about a digital footprint, I would say don’t be afraid to have one. Of course being safe about what you do online is is really important, no doubt about it. However up until a few years ago I was way to scared and intimidated about the consequences of your digital footprint to do anything related to myself on the internet. If I could go back in time, I maybe would’ve at least not been scared of the internets power and learned how you could have a safe and appropriate presence online. While a lot of not so good things can come out of having a bad digital footprint, a lot of good things can come out of having a good one!