Digital Footprint Assignment

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

During job interviews, it could affect how the interviewer thinks of me. If I said some bad thing to friends of mine then the interviewer wouldn’t want to hire me. If I said some good things to friends of mine then the interviewer would look at me differently. They want hardworking, kind, and determined people working for them, not mean, lazy, and inefficient people. I’ve had some friends in the past that were sad because of something that occurred to them that day. I didn’t start making rude jokes or trying to make them feel bad about themselves, I asked if they were alright and if they needed to talk to someone. I told them if they needed to talk to someone, I would be there for them no matter what. My instant reaction was to put them before me and help what they were going through. In the past, I’ve also said a few bad things to people. It was because I was angry and wanted to get all my anger out but in the end, it didn’t help at all. It just made matters worse for myself and the other person. I eventually realized my mistakes and apologized to the person, I even tried cheering them up and just putting the negative things behind us in the past. Know I learned my lesson not to say things unless it’s in a joking way or positive.

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

One of the ways is to think before I say it. I have to think if someone said that to me, would I be alright about it or will I be hurt. The second strategy is asking myself will my parents, grandparents, or a family member think this is fine with me saying or posting. The third strategy is staying cautious. I don’t want people to see my private information. I should keep all passwords and private information to myself only. Unless that is my parents or family relative.

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 in time, and do one thing differently online it would be not to click on every advertisement I see. Some of the advertisements asked for my private information like age, address, and full name. I decided to type this information onto the website. I figured it was safe, but turns out not. I realized that other strangers can see all my private information. It was like handing private information to the public. A type of advice I would pass onto my younger self or other students is to not believe everything online and keep all the private information’s to yourself only, and don’t share it around. I would explain it by telling them what kind of negative things can happen to them if they were to do the opposite.