I feel like I have been aware of my digital footprint for awhile now. When I was a teenager, I spent my summers working at camp. The camp had high expectations for their staff and their social media presence. I was sure to keep my accounts private, post modest pictures, and not share things that I did not want my employers to see. I am very grateful for my clean teenage online presence now as I start my career as a teacher. While I may have posted a few cringey things here or there, I did not have to try to clean up many years worth of inappropriate or unprofessional images.
I would like to teach my students to use the internet in the responsible way that I did as a teenager. I will warn them that the things that they impulsively share on the internet now could have major current and long-term consequences. I will show them that what they say and share online is how many people will perceive them now and in the future. Once it’s on the internet, it belongs to the public and is incredibly difficult (if not impossible) to entirely erase.
Teaching my students about their digital footprints is important to me because I do not want anything they post to hinder their opportunities in the future. For example, if your entire Facebook feed is photos of you drunk and nearly naked at parties, the chances of you being employed in a profession such as teaching will substantially decrease. While social media can be a lot of fun, it is something to take seriously.
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