Without a doubt, this class has made me feel more important as a human being. Not in the sense of my ego has become this great big thing, but more that I've learned that my words and personal information hold so much more value than I originally thought. I am a broadcast journalism major, meaning that I'm not afraid to use my voice and identity to represent a cause bigger than myself. That being said, I had never realized how much my openness affected my digital footprint...until I Googled myself.
Overall, I feel that I have a large footprint compared to the average person. I have at least one account for most of the top social media platforms. Everything from Instagram to Twitter and even Linkedin, contain some amount of my personal information. On top of that, I am quite active on Youtube, and release videos of my journalistic work often. Therefore, when I Googled myself, I knew that there was going to be more information about me online than most of my peers.
The first place I went to when I searched "Reece Harnett" was images. I wanted to see what kind of embarrassing photos someone could find of me, and luckily there were not any that were too bad. Just some old twitter pictures and snapshots from my reporting in high school. I then went to the webpage and found exactly what I expected. My LinkedIn page was the top cite, followed by about two more pages of my various accounts and youtube videos. While at first, I was not worried, it wasn't until I got to the third page that I found something that I did not like.
About two years ago, I went to a camp where they had a file of all of my personal information. When I say all I mean ALL. On this page was a PDF file with everything from my home address to my height and weight. I realized that with this info, someone could easily steal my identity or do something worse. So I immediately called the camp and requested that they take the site down. As far as my digital footprint goes, I am incredibly glad I took the time to check what it was actually like. I have a feeling I am not the only person who would run into this problem if they researched themselves. So, I would recommend to absolutely everyone that they take a look.
It is easy to hear this story and think that my technology use is unhealthy or that it is ruining our privacy, but almost all of the information that I found was put out there by me. I feel comfortable with what I have chosen to release and through this experience, I learned how to "clean the gutters" so to speak. Sure, there are downsides to our increased dependence on technology, but I personally am the type of person that feels like we must accept these drawbacks and learn to live with them healthily. If that means limiting your phone usage, then that should be your decision, but I feel good about my situation and actually am grateful for the technology I am able to possess.
For anyone who needs help cutting back on their technology use -
Try this
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