In exploring digital identity in #edtc300 this week, I had a lot of time to contemplate what my digital identity says about me. Further, I was given the opportunity to cybersleuth my classmate to understand better what people see when they internet search for an individual. The cyber sleuthing activity was enjoyable because since my partner and I are friends, we kind of giggled over any “dirt” we could find on each other. However, Jon Ronson said in his TED Talk, “How One Tweet Can Ruin Your Life,” that: “we’re now creating a surveillance society where the smartest way to survive is to go back to being voiceless.” The way I approached the cybersleuth was the way society made me have to approach it. I was searching for anything I felt I had to make my partner aware of, posts or comments they might not want on their social profiles as a future educator; why is that?

Well, cancel culture functions in a way that targets individuals for their mistakes and allows people to hide behind a screen to attack them. Now, I am not saying people should be able to post without thinking and not be held accountable, but I have just been enlightened by how media and technology create a shameful and inescapable log of an individual’s mistakes. For example, Ronsons describes how while Jonah Lehrer was apologizing for a mistake, he was continually kicked when he was down as mean tweets flooded the screen beside him. Further, when discussing Justine Sacco’s tweet, Ronson pointed out how other people and companies capitalize on one’s downfall, and the people who shamelessly attacked her on the internet are supported. “Our shaming brains are so simple-minded that we couldn’t handle destroying someone who was inappropriately destroying Justine.” Our digital identity does not allow room for errors because people can interpret and use words, pictures, and videos against us. 

However, social media has many pros as well. Something I found interesting is that the person I was cyber sleuthing used their full name for their professional accounts like Twitter, LinkedIn, their blog, etc. and a shortened name for their personal accounts like Instagram, Snapchat, etc. Although this might be a coincidence, I don’t believe it is. In Nicole Lee’s article “Having multiple online identities is more normal than you think,” Lee discusses how different platforms have different purposes, different content and different audiences! I totally can relate to this. Although my social accounts have appropriate content across the board, my sister does not really care to see my tweets regarding my professional endeavours. However, she loves to see the song I am listening to on Snapchat. 

In general, digital identity for me is something to take seriously. I want to be active with my media to control my digital narrative, as we discussed in class. I also want to use my accounts to educate, explore, learn and play. Further, I think curating a digital identity and understanding what that means sets a positive example of digital literacy and digital citizenship for my future students. 

Feel free to check out my other related blog post on Twitter in the classroom and Treating Digital Citizenship as a Social Norm.