Your digital footprint paints a picture of who you are because it is entirely made up of your actions online and what you leave behind when you physically leave your computer or device. Whether it is a phone, laptop, desktop computer or tablet anything we use to engage in social media, email, web surfing, online shopping and even making accounts for things such as Zoom conferences, we are leaving multiple footprints and paths behind us. Surmelioglu states that “the concept of digital has become an important part of daily life within the context of skills to be acquired in the 21st century.” (2019, P.49) I agree with this statement because looking back at the early 2000’s when I was in elementary school, computer lab sessions were once a week and a lot of students were lucky if they had a computer at home since many low-income families could not afford such luxuries. This meant that teachers were not under as much stress to teach the do’s and don’ts of online safety because it was a simpler time, with simpler technology.
How does our digital footprint differ now? Buchanan highlights that “today’s children are in constant online communication with their peers, creating new standards of behavior and communication, with participation in this digital culture facilitating cognitive, social and emotional development.” (2019, P.169) The development part of this quote is one that I think needs to be highlighted because “much of the discussion surrounding the issue of children’s digital footprints highlights the potential present and future risks that children could be exposed to.” (Buchanan, 2019, P.167) The risks that children may be exposed to are going to shape their development on all sides depending on the experience they have with technology. Unlike years prior to the 2000’s, Children who rely on technology at such a young age will start shaping their futures when they make their very first You Tube account or social media profile because “the digital footprints left by internet and social media usage can potentially affect their future careers or job prospects. Increasingly, media stories detail instances where individuals have lost their jobs or been discounted from higher education programs, based on content found on their social media accounts.” (Buchanan, 2017, P.277) This can be seen as a con of a digital footprint to the consumer but a pro to any hiring agency that wants a transparent look at a potential employee/student.
As technology grows more complex every day, we are now able to carry small computers in our pockets everywhere we go. This means that for every footprint you leave with your physical shoe; one is also being left in some platform through the technology you carry with you. Many phones have advanced tracking systems in them and if not turned off they constantly follow your every move, while others have location services enabled within the settings of their apps, these are all ways of tracking. Have you ever needed something… a new pillow for example? You take a second, search google for a nice memory foam pillow and for days/weeks after that you have unsolicited information bombarding your social media trying to lead you to websites where you can purchase memory foam pillows? This search engine took a cast of your digital print you left behind and used one thing it knew about you to constantly remind you that you were searching for a product. According to Surmelioglu there are two types of digital footprints, passive and active. While “passive prints are left interacting with an infrastructure that provides input to location records such as a mobile telephone network, active prints are made individually by users when they use location data in photographs, messages and sensory measurements.” (2019, P.49) An example of a passive print is a trail you leave with knowledge which would be the pillow example above, where an engine took and logged your IP address therefore identifying your approximate location to bring up appropriate suggestions of near by places for you to buy a memory foam pillow. An active print is ones that we make on purpose every day when we send an email, post a twitter post, like a page on Facebook.
There are pros and cons to having a digital footprint, I argue that there are many more cons, but this is a personal opinion because I am a relatively private person and do not like the idea of personal information about myself being out of my own hands. Cons of having a digital footprint no matter what size is that personal data can be taken from you without your knowledge which can lead to fraud, identity theft and in some cases can endanger one’s safety. Another con is stated above regarding unnecessary advertisements that bombard your time online which is not only annoying but time consuming if you are constantly having to exit windows and navigate unimportant information to get to information that you need. The final and most important con to think about is that once a digital footprint is made it is almost impossible to erase. Once any information is carelessly released on the internet it can be copied and stored millions of times without you even knowing and this can be dangerous. There are a few pros to a digital footprint and having dealt with credit card fraud last year I am happy to have the digital footprint to fall back on because the bank could track what had happened and where my credit card was being used. This saved me a lot of money in the end and ended up being a positive experience for me when it was over. The accessibility to information is another great thing because there are many platforms out there, Google drive for example, where we can open it at home, drop a document in there and share it with classmates or login to a work computer and grab it. When we use Google docs within the education program it is an experience that is positive for all students because we are all able to work on one document at the same time and it can show brainstorming in real time. The fact that information can be retrieved quickly and efficiently in most cases is a plus for me.
I can talk about how bad a digital footprint is all day long but how does my own footprint look? I am extremely embarrassed to say that my own digital footprint was worse than I expected it to be! I did not find any type of contact information on myself which I was relieved about BUT under the images tab of Google there are photos that lead to my Pinterest, Etsy, Facebook, Twitter account AND my place of work. I kept digging and to my surprise the company I work for has a page (Get to know the team), which is fine but then it goes on to say that I am the evenings and weekend part time worker! So right there anyone can see where I work and at what times! This was concerning to me. A search on the weblink side of Google revealed the same things but in link form. This led me down a rabbit hole of blocking content and changing photos to ones that do not reveal any of my face, as well as deleting search engine information and blocking the ability for people to search my name and it reveal my accounts. On Twitter I can be linked to classmates and professors accounts via comments left on their photos/posts as well as through my own posts (only if you search my name without a space). My Facebook is by far the most private profile I have, where no one can even search my name or message me and this is for good reasons that link to an experience with unpleasant individuals. However, a photographer who did a photo shoot for me has her page set to public and unfortunately through one comment on her page a photo of hers came up under images— only I would know it was linked to me because I know her work just by looking at it. As a future teacher my digital footprint matters to me not only because I want to lead by example but also because I do not want any future students to be able to search my name and find things from my past that I am uncomfortable with. Writing this blog and doing this research has taught me that security and privacy settings are there for a purpose and we should always take advantage of them!
Digital Footprint (Hewson, 2014, P.14)
Works Cited
Buchanan, R., Southgate, E., Smith, S. P., Murray, T., & Noble, B. (2017). Post No Photos,    Leave No Trace: Children’s Digital Footprint Management Strategies. E-Learning and Digital Media, 14(5), 275–290.
Buchanan, R., Southgate, E., & Smith, S. P. (2019). “The Whole World’s Watching Really”:          Parental and Educator Perspectives on Managing Children’s Digital Lives. Global Studies of    Childhood, 9(2), 167–180.
Hewson, K. (2013). What Size Is Your Digital Footprint? Phi Delta Kappan, 94(7), 14–17
Surmelioglu, Y., & Seferoglu, S. S. (2019). An Examination of Digital Footprint Awareness and Digital      Experiences of Higher Education Students. World Journal on Educational Technology: Current           Issues, 11(1), 48–64
