Online Footprint

I love my phone and I'm addicted to social media like the rest of my generation, I can't lie. Though that's true, I'm still very careful as to what I put online for the world to see. All of my accounts are extremely private although I have given some my email address, I've never given my phone number. I've searched myself and I'd like to believe I have a positive online footprint. I currently use the applications Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube. Facebook isn't my favorite because of the privacy issues it's had in the past, so I mainly use it for work reasons. I post pictures of family and friends, share funny videos, and stories I felt were important. My social media shows exactly who I am in person and I have nothing to hide. I've always been careful because of the obvious: future employers and my entire immediate family is very active on all media platforms socially and for business. Proper usage of social media is something parents and educators should teach. I love social media but I like to use it to look at and save memories. Others use it for different reasons and I do believe that social media is linked to depression and loneliness like The Atlantic article stated.

One software I think most people overlook, including myself is Cookies. I didn't realize until after my research that it's part of our active digital footprint. Other examples of an active digital footprint are simply posting on social media like Snapchat and Facebook or filling out applications online. If you've never heard of Cookies, it's a data storing software that saves files about what you search and for advertising purposes. One thing most don't know about Cookies is that when you click the "Remember Me" button, a continuous cookie keeps your login information and stays on that browser. That's why I use the password saving software, LastPass. It's free to download and use and it saves all of your usernames and passwords on a vault on your computer, protected by another master password.Another more common, and less risky use is for advertising. When you click on an ad, Cookies will track which website you found that ad on. (J.P, 2019)


J. P. (2019, February 15). Browser Cookies: What Are They & Why Should You Care? Retrieved from https://www.whoishostingthis.com/resources/cookies-guide/