What does the internet say about me?

This week we discussed cyber sleuthing, and to say I was a little freaked out is an understatement! It is wild to me that you can just go online and look anyone up and that we have little control over what people find about us. We can control our social media posts, and what we do online, but the things that show up when you google our names are mostly out of our control! Isn’t that crazy!!

The readings and class discussion this week really made me consider how I present myself and am presented online.

When reading the Split Image article, I really considered just how many people I know online and stay ‘in touch with’ through social media. Many friends have gone off to other universities for athletics and I see their social media posts and assume they are doing well. This article made me realize that in some cases that is very untrue, and that people only post what they want you to see.

The Multiple Online Identities article discussed the different purposes of different forms of social media and I really related to that! It mentioned that they use Instagram as a more public platform; Facebook to keep up with friends and family; and Twitter to goof around and post random thoughts. For me, I feel the exact same way, except I don’t post on Twitter or now X. It makes sense when you think about different platforms having different purposes yet I think we often forget about that or don’t consider it when looking at social media profiles.

To dive more into the Cyber Sleuthing world and consider how I am presented online I decided to look myself up, and to be honest there was nothing that really surprised me. The very first thing that comes up when I search my name, is my Edusites blog! Other than that most of the things I found about myself were swimming-related, my University of Regina roster pictures, Saskatchewan Summer Games information, and swim meet results. Some of the other things that came up were my Instagram account profile which is private so people can’t actually look at it anyway, or my Grandma’s obituary from 2016. Overall, I feel like the way I am represented when you google me is an accurate representation of the things I do. It shows that I am a student and an athlete, and other are some family connections there. I would like to be more of my community involvement to show up online however I am not upset or disappointed by what does appear. The thing I thought was funny is that when you look at the images, some of them are of myself, but other pictures are of my teammates, family members and for some reason my dog haha!

 

Overall, I am still windblown by the world of the internet and at the same time had a lot of fun looking up myself, and some of my family and friends! I think this is something people should do more often to ensure they are being portrayed the way they want to be and so future employers or others can get an accurate representation of who they are looking for.