Putting My Foot On The Ground.... Digitally

  Searches, posts, comments, views, pictures, videos, and all of those other things you do on the internet... what does it leave?  It leaves a digital footprint.  Not a carbon footprint (which is probably vast because of what we all consume), but a digital one.  A digital footprint is what we leave behind from being online.  There are two sides to the footprint... a good, and of course bad.  

  I have actually googled myself, and to be honest I was a little disappointed.  It took me forever to find me.  My name is quite common however, so that may be the reason, but even after typing in my hometown I couldn't find much.  I found some football stats from high school, and my Google+ account, which I had just activated about 2 weeks prior.  I couldn't find my facebook, or my Twitter.  Is that good or bad?  Depends on how you look at it I suppose.

My digital footprint... literally.

  The good side, are all the positives you can leave behind.  If you create something wonderful, or write an amazing paper, of course you are going to want people to see it, so post it online.  It will go towards giving yourself a really good online presence.  You want someone to google your name and see amazing content.  Which brings me to the bad.  People do stupid things, its a fact (no offense).  Everyone has done something stupid in their life, but only some allow it to get online.  This is where the bad portion of the digital footprint begins to show.  Imagine you are a pre-service teacher, and you have just finished your second year in the ED program, so you are going out to celebrate!  Pretty harmless: a couple of drinks with some friends, some pool, maybe some VLTs.  Then, on the walk home you decide to go to the washroom, right where you are standing, and your friend decides to take a picture.  Harmless?  Not to the possible employer who just googled your name.  (Side note:  This story was completely fictional, as I just made it up on the spot)  Being responsible in general is important, because there are too many ways for our doings to become public.  Act responsible everywhere, and you should be fine.

  Overall, a digital footprint can be scary, but also empowering.  Be smart, act right, don't watch reality television (joking), and you should have a good digital footprint for life.  Let's face it, it'll be there for that long.  Until next time... CHEERS!!!

I don't think she's been irresponsible with her digital footprint... or has she?