Day 8 (June 2): Assigned Blogpost
This class, we talked about digital footprints and cyber-vigilantism. You would think that by now, we all know that what we post stays online forever. However, people seem to keep forgetting that!
Cyber-vigilantism: what a powerful tool that has been used for both good and bad. In theory, it does sound like justice in a way, when a person cant actually get prosecuted by the law: people come together to call out someone who did something wrong. But what about when the vigilantes get it wrong? I have seen innocent people get doxxed/attacked online, simply because they share the same name with someone who got “cancelled” online! That isn’t justice. Its so sad to see.
This is where cancel culture comes in. I think that it has been taken a bit too far. I think its reasonable to cancel people who call for violence or ave actually hurt people, especially children (well, lets throw animals in there too). But a lot of the time, people online take things to the extreme and it doesnt always seem like the punishment fits the crime. People losing their jobs and having their names tarnished forever, over a political disagreement. The only people who seem to bounce bag from that are celebrities/influencers who already have a following/fans. Regular people suffer. That is why it is a really goo point that we must build up our positive digital footprints, to counteract any negative mis-haps that could occur.
I have noticed that digital footprints general seem to be getting worse, not better, despite increasing awareness of the negative impacts of a bad digital footprint! Social media is now a spot where people compete for attention by doing the most ridiculous things.
As a future teacher, this is really important to me. I have encountered people in my classes that say that its “unfair” that teachers are held to higher standard online. I see their point, but I dont fully agree. Teachers are role models. If I was a parent, I wouldn’t want someone teaching my child who has a negative digital presence. Its more about being responsible as opposed to being “perfect”.
The internet definitely isn’t going away any time soon. Although we cant control others, we can control how we show up online. Our digital footprints are how to world sees us.