1. How might your digital footprint affect your future opportunities? Give at least two examples.
What you do or say online stays there. Your digital footprint can be recovered and can make people think differently about you. If you are applying for something, whether it be a job, a secondary school, or another opportunity in the future. The chances are, they will use the internet to find out more about you. What they find can easily determine what they think about you and if they give you an opportunity or not.
2. Describe at least three strategies that you can use to keep your digital footprint appropriate and safe.
- Never share your personal information
- Make sure what you are putting out on the internet isn’t hurtful to anyone
- Don’t do anything you might regret or find embarrassing later on
3. If you could go back in time, is there anything you would do differently online? Think of what type of advice you would pass on to your younger self or other students. How could you go about explaining it to them?
If I could go back, something I would do differently would be not investing so much of my time on social media. I used to spend a lot of time on social media and after a while, I didn’t feel very good about it. One day I decided to take a break from social media. I got rid of one app at a time and I haven’t been on it since. It has been really nice to step away. I feel like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.
One piece of advice I would give to my younger self would be to do what is best for you and don’t worry about what others may think of you. When I started distancing myself from social media, it was hard. I thought a lot about what I would miss, and what people would think of me. In the end, I realized that taking care of myself is way more important than worrying about what people may think of me if I don’t like one of their posts.