A digital footprint is something that everyone who uses the internet has, yet few people understand.
A digital footprint is the trail of data that you make while surfing the internet. It comes from absolutely everything you do. This is everything from sending an email, to online shopping, to taking a BuzzFeed quiz.
The easiest way to begin understanding your digital footprint is to google yourself. When looking yourself often pieces of you social media may come up, maybe a few pictures and these are all part of your digital footprint.
Many people do not understand how the digital footprint works, as many people believe that if you are not signed into an account then you do not leave a trail, and this is untrue. All sites track your data and this is how you often get ads tailored to you. I think that all of us have looked at something like a fridge online once and then gotten ads for the, for weeks.
There are two different types of digital footprints, one is the active footprint and the other is the passive footprint. The active footprint is things such as posting on social media and filling out online form. The passive footprint is the digital trail that you leave unknowingly or unintentionally.
It is very important to be aware of your digital footprint because many things that go online could be used against you. That is why parents always warn children about putting personal information online, as once it’s out there, it’s really hard to get back.
Tecahing kids and teens about your digital footprint is incredibly important. It is important both for personal safety and for your future. Your digital footprint is something that can be used against you at things such as jobs or universities as if the people in charge do not like what you are posting, then they do not have to take you on.
Teaching this in a classroom may be difficult is it can be hard to wrap around the idea that everything you do online can be tracked (in some form). Teaching something like this would go well with online safety and digital literacy.
https://www.cyber.gc.ca/en/guidance/digital-footprint-itsap00133
https://www.bitdefender.com/cyberpedia/what-is-digital-footprint/
