Developing Digital Footprints: “It Takes A Village”

“Raise your hand if at twenty years old you were the most wholesome version of yourself” (Korf, 2017)

No, no I was not. Chances you weren’t, either. Nor at sixteen, or thirteen…

Imagine you are thirteen years old again. Greenday is blaring on your stereo in the background, and you’re scribbling in your diary with all of the teen angst you can muster. You go in to grand detail about your crush, your changing body, and your deepest and darkest desires. You feel a little bit better after writing out the day’s frustrations. You feel even better knowing that no one will ever read your diary, because you have a super clever hiding spot for it in the back of your closet, and an even more clever hiding spot for the key.

Now, imagine doing that in modern times. All of those embarrassing personal thoughts, published automatically for all to see…because instead of a journal, you have a cellphone at your disposal at all times. And you use that cellphone to type out your every thought, frustration, and whim on social media or via Snapchat. You likely don’t realize, as a teenager, that these posts likely will not remain private forever.

We have all looked back at posts from our early days on social media and “cringed.” Similarly, we have all had to discuss these types of things with our own students during “acceptable use” moments regarding technology.

Knowing all of this this, and taking in to account our own experiences in the early days of social media, we should absolutely do all that we can in order to help our students develop a positive digital footprint at a very early age.

As quoted by Keegan Korf in her Ted Talk: “It takes a village to raise a child.” In this debate, that adage most certainly rings true. Even though it is not the sole responsibility of educators, I firmly believe we as teachers do help play an important role. I am of the mindset that it takes guidance from a few areas of a students’ life. Parents or caregivers, teachers, their peers, and their own independent thoughts will all contribute to the development of their digital footprints.

Before this week’s debate, I knew what an active and passive digital footprint was, but I had never actually heard those terms. Hearing them labeled as such made me consider all of the multi-faceted  aspects of a digital footprint, and how important it truly is to educate our students on the consequences of their actions online.

Now, I am not using the term “consequence” as a solely negative one. In this case, we can demonstrate all of the wonderful and positive outcomes that a digital footprint can create. Of course, there are lots of examples of how a negative footprint can cause harm, however leaving a positive footprint can be a good thing for a student’s future as well.

A quick Google search also led me to discover that there are tools to help track your current digital footprint, whether for personal or professional use. Websites such as:

https://www.saymine.com/digital-footprint-assistant

came up when I searched for ways to track your online presence. I did not create an account to check my own, but I may one day. It could potentially become a teaching tool to have students check their own footprints, as well.

Keegan’s Ted Talk had so many other points that further convinced me that it is our responsibility as educators to help our students develop a digital footprint. She was honest, truthful, spoke from personal experience and concise. I also loved her positive outlook:

“What I’m trying to say is that there are simple things that can be done early on to demonstrate students the positive side of utilizing the internet, such as leaving a positive digital footprint as opposed to all the negative things they should continuously be on the lookout for.”

In short, I do believe that we can provide some guidance to help our students develop their digital footprints, but as stated in the “teenage bill of rights” we should also allow them to make some mistakes, and be a little forgiving to these young minds who are not currently “the most wholesome versions of themselves.”