Digital Identity/ Footprint

People used to tell me that when I get older I will find my identity by learning from my mistakes, going through high school, making friends in college and choosing a career. These days, you can find your identity in a digital way. The internet is this wonderful place where you can learn about yourself and helps you express yourself. I tend to use multiple applications and websites to express myself and have my digital footprint out there. I use Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and many others. I like having myself out there for the world to see because I like to think I live an adventurous life and will motivate others to get out there and do more. It is very important to have a digital identity because employers will look through it all and decide whether you are a suitable employee.

I decided to do a self search on google to see what my digital footprint looks like. I have been very careful because people scared me when they say "anything that you put online will live on forever". I always decided to never post much because I didn't want it to be there forever. When I looked for myself I didn't find a lot. The only thing I found were pictures of me from my former job. I tried to do an image search so that maybe I could find some profiles or pictures of me and didn't find anything. I have been in plays, in the news papers, multiple groups and didn’t find any evidence online. I think it's due to the fact that my name is hard to spell. My name is spelled Jaime but it sounds like Hi-meh and my last name always gets misspelled. The Brandon Sun took a picture of my girlfriend and I and misspelled my name, even after I spelled it out for him. I couldn't find this picture when I was looking for myself on google, but I did when I was looking for her.

I am not upset that I don't have a big digital footprint because I like to be careful on what I share online. I think we need to teach our students about how careful they need to be while posting things online. When I look at TikTok and see all these young people drinking and doing risky pranks, they’re exposing too much about themselves, and those videos can live on forever. Whenever an employer researches them online they will be able to find these videos and they will hinder their chances at obtaining a job. Having a digital foot print is great and necessary but we need to consider what we post and who will be able to see it. Make sure you leave a positive footprint in this world and not a risky six-second vine.