As I wake up each morning to the sound of my alarm, I do not think about how fascinating it is that just fourteen years ago, iPhones were not even on the market. Carrying out my daily routine, I prepare for lacrosse practice by checking the weather using multiple apps on my phone, filling out my wellness questions regarding my sleep and soreness, and answering the Arms Software form as a health screening implemented because of the pandemic. When I get in my car to drive to Vert Stadium, I connect my phone through bluetooth technology and play my favorite pump-up songs to get in my zone and “like” my coach’s message in the Groupme app saying that film will be in the locker room to start off practice for the morning. After practice I catch up on my emails, fill out my online rate of perceived exertion form answering questions about my exertion level that day on the field, text my athletic trainer for a time to come in for treatment to relieve my back pain, and fill out the University’s daily wellness questionnaire. All before 10 am on a typical day, I use my phone in a wide variety of ways and many of which assess and track my daily wellbeing. All without being aware of the extent of my reliance on technology.
This relationship I have with technology has become one of necessity because so many requirements I have to meet each day or correspondences I have with others depend on using my device to send information efficiently. Unlike most young adults in my age demographic however, I actively limit my daily use of social media and the number of social media platforms I use at one time. Though I like to stay connected with friends across the world which has been very easy with the ability to check anyone’s social media account in a matter of seconds, I have found the people I am closest with will reach out via text or a phone call regardless of the physical distance between us. So even though I use different media platforms to stay connected with others, the primary role of media and technology as a whole in my life is its use for daily tasks and academic or professional correspondence. I am very selective of the social media platforms I create a profile on, and have never made accounts on many popular social media such as TikTok or Vine even when that source may be considered “all the rage”. My visits to my Facebook and Twitter pages are very rare and I hardly ever post on Instagram or Snapchat which are all private accounts anyway. With these precautions I have taken to protect my identity and information, I would say my digital footprint is a clean one.
🔐For more information on how to protect your digital footprint, this article from Allstate 🔐
Identity Protection provides great step-by-step actions you can take!
https://blog.infoarmor.com/individuals-and-families/whats-digital-footprint-why-does-it-matter-tips-protecting-data
My parents raised me to be very mindful of the content I share on the internet and my lacrosse coaches are always checking our team’s social media accounts for content that could be considered inappropriate for any reason big or small. With emphasis on the care I should take in protecting my digital footprint coming from many areas of my life, I have never attempted to share something that could paint a negative image of me in the slightest. In this way, I have come to despise many aspects of social media because now, schools and companies can discipline students and employees for their actions on social media. Every time technology and social media become more intertwined in how we function daily, the distinction between who we are in person and who we are on the internet can become more blurred. While technology has the potential to serve as a platform where people can promote their perspectives, technology also has the potential to enable people to portray a different or inaccurate depiction of themselves. Where one picture with an innocent cup in the background has been seen in recent years to cause termination in the workplace or from collegiate teams and ruin the digital footprint by harming someone’s character, a picture could also spread a positive message to millions, and even impact someone’s life. With these consequences in mind, I have found value in finding a balance between maintaining professionalism on social media in the instance a future potential employer decides to peruse my digital footprint and staying connected with distant friends and family who look to my social media platforms as a way to keep up with my activities and accomplishments.
⥤ From, The New York Times, this article provides an example from January ⥢
this year, when a high school cheerleader faced punishments from her school because of her actions on the internet
My online presence because of my caution with my activity and posts online is a very professional image. When searching my name on Google, you will likely find several articles about my involvement with lacrosse both in high school and today, along with my successes in Varsity golf, my LinkedIn or Facebook profile, and maybe even a few highlight videos from 2017 on Youtube. Though this footprint can be categorized as a positive reflection of who I am, I am still astonished at the amount of information anyone could learn about me by simply typing my first and last name into a search engine. In this way, technology has made evaluating candidates for a job, admissions acceptance, and recruitment much easier because the field of candidates can be narrowed down in a matter of minutes depending on that candidate's digital footprint.
I like to consider the saying “everything in moderation” when contemplating my activity on social media and my overall use of technology. Like any challenge we are faced with in life, technology presents many benefits while also creating many new obstacles users are presented with. Oftentimes we make rash decisions in the heat of a moment whether it be out of happiness or anger, forgetting the lasting impact one post can have and the permanence online actions carry. Technology gives the opportunity for an ordinary person to become an overnight sensation, influencer, or celebrity; but there is also the risk of becoming exposed to the world for an offensive comment that surfaces from years ago when Facebook was first launched. Both of these scenarios have frequented the media as awareness of the internet’s permanence increases which I have seen makes people more aware, mindful, and conscious of the effect a post could have. I have also seen people become more strategic by using popular social media platforms for fundraising by using the technology Venmo to easily donate small sums of money and even politely and directly request donations from connections through Venmo. The pandemic has especially inspired such creativity to replace events that could not be held safely and still be successful.
Bingo Boards like the example to the left have been a common way non-profits, sororities, and athletic teams advertise their cause and raise money for the cause. During my lacrosse team’s fundraising efforts for the organization we work with closely, Friends of Jaclyn, I posted this Bingo board on my instagram and received many Venmo donations, exceeding my fundraising goal. This method was efficient because the post was able to reach over 800 of my Instagram followers within 24 hours. With less than half of that number of contacts in my phone, I never would have been able to support the cause with generous donations, or spread awareness of the organization's mission to as many people as I did by using technology.
In moderation, the use of technology can foster creativity amongst the young, reliant generations to develop new solutions to problems the preceding generations were dealt. In excess, the use of technology could lead to further increase of mental illnesses stemming from social pressures, cyberbullying, and the lack of social skills seen in younger generations. As technology continues to develop, we must also develop the way we teach people to use social media. For successful verbal communicators in the future, we must instill the value of limiting daily use of technology to ensure technology's use benefits our society instead of becoming a hindrance.
