When I hear “digital footprint,” I instantly think of negative or fear-based connotations related to it. This is mainly because, I think, with the rise of technology, it was unfamiliar territory for many people, and there is a lot unknown of what could happen in the future. I remember being told in high school that posting pictures at parties on social media would ruin your life. Are you wanting a job? Well, good luck getting one if you have any presence of alcohol in a picture that is posted. Posting a picture of you on vacation in a bikini? Good luck getting a job with that out there, too. This may sound a little dramatic, but that is what my ninth-grade self took away when my teachers would talk about having a digital footprint and, quite frankly, what I still hear from professors.
Well, I understand their intentions in discussing the risks of posting things digitally. The fear-inducing approach is not always the best and, ultimately, not overly effective, especially for kids at that age. I think that sometimes, we need to let teenagers be teenagers. They shouldn’t have to constantly be worried about their future career. They shouldn’t have to feel like they need to overanalyze every little choice they make right now because maybe just maybe 10 years from now, it is going to come back and ruin their entire lives, leaving them with no hope of ever being able to find a job. I just think that the digital footprint, in general, is always viewed negatively. It is taught in an everything terrible will happen kind of way. Rather than a, here, let’s help teach you how to create good digital footprints because being active digitally is great, as long as we think about what we are posting and who can see what we are posting because, yes, the digital world can be scary, and digital footprints are very much a real thing. Yes, kids need to be careful and mindful of what they post, but let’s focus on teaching them how to be safe digitally and how our digital footprints can provide opportunities or may help to make connections in ways that they might not have been given if they were not digitally active.
Here are some things that I think teenagers could be taught about digital footprints that would be more effective:
- First, what is a digital footprint/what does that even mean?
- Privacy settings on social media apps
- Monitoring who follows you/who can access what you post
- How to create a positive digital footprint (LinkedIn, blog posts, online galleries, websites, etc.)
- potential risks/consequences/dangers if not cautious
To sum up, digital footprints are very real, and it is important that students know about the dangers and consequences that can come from a bad one. However, I do not think that is the only topic that needs to be discussed.
What do you think?