What does my digital identity say about me?
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT JENNY BROUWERS REFLECTS ON DIGITAL IDENTITY
From a very young age my mother
told me that I need to do my best
to make sure that anything I post
online is professional. Since this was
something that was told to me from
the moment I got my first social media
account when I was in elementary
school, I have always tried my hardest
to make sure that anything I post
would be something I would be okay
with my parents seeing online.
But the question I wanted to ask
myself in today's blog post is "what
does my digital identity say about
me?" By this I mean, if I were an
employer and I were to look at my
online profiles, what kind of person
would I think I am? The reason why I
wanted to think about this is because
often the presence we create for
ourselves online is what people think
of us, sometimes before they even
meet us.
When looking at my Facebook in a
glance it looks like this:
Now because my Facebook has been
something I have had since 9th grade,
it is not something that I use for
professional reasons. But it also isn’t
something that I think will hinder me
in any way. I believe that my Facebook
shows I am an active person in my
community and that I care about my
friends.
So that led me to research myself. I
started with Google search, and the
first thing I noticed was my Facebook
account popped up.
When looking through my Facebook,
the first thing I noticed was the fact
that 95% of what I post is photos.
However, luckily for me I have no
photos that are the typical teenager
photos of us doing things that aren’t
the brightest when we were younger.
The reason for this is that from a very
young age I remember telling my
friends that I don’t want any dumb
photos of me on Facebook because
I didn’t want to come back and ruin
my chance at getting a job some day.
The majority of my posts on Twitter
are educational because I think it is a
great tool for me to use as a teacher;
so I have decided to keep it as a tool I
use for educational purposes. My hope
is that potential employers will see
that I am using Twitter in ways that
could further education for stude nts.
Next I decided to look through my
Twitter feed. The reason I wanted to
do that was because I use Twitter
for the exact opposite reason that
I use Facebook. My Twitter is used
for strictly professional reasons. I
only have had my Twitter account
since part way through University
and because of that I decided that
it was going to be used strictly for
professional/educational reasons.
When looking at my Twitter the
following is what you would see:
When looking online it is important to
remember that you are looking at only
a part of who a person is. You can’t
always tell what a person cares about,
what their sense of humour is like, or
who their idol is, but instead we are
only given a glimpse of who they are.
I really hope that the glimpse I have
shown the world is a positive one.
Jenny Brouwers is in the 4th year of her Elementary
Education program. She served as the Education Students'
Society President in 2016-2017. This reflection was part of a
weekly blog assignment for her Ed Technology 300 course.
"...often the presence we create for ourselves online is what people
think of us, sometimes before they even meet us."
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