Tattoos, Greek myths and your digital footprint
I recently watched this great TED talk, Juan Enriquez explains how a digital tattoo can provide lots of information about who, and what, you are, it can shout about your life and tell a story. They are hard to hide from in the same way that it is hard to hide a real tattoo. He asks “what if Andy Warhol had it wrong, and instead of being famous for 15 minutes, we’re only anonymous for that long?”
The ideas of digital tattoos, digital footprints and our online reputation are all things that we should look to manage. It is important to consider how in control can we be of our digital tattoo? Are we always in control of the content that is posted about us? Can you trust your friends online to be cautious and responsible with what they post about you?
Being a responsible online user can help us to portray a positive reputation online. There are strategies that we can put in place to help to protect our online reputation for example:
- Check that your privacy settings are in place
- Question who you are connecting with online, will they respect your online reputation?
- Consider the privacy policies on the sites you use
- Search yourself online
- Think before you post
- Create positive online content
Positive posting, sharing, tweeting and creation of online content can be really great and beneficial but we need to be aware of what story it may tell about us, not only now but also in the future. We need to think ahead to college, university and job applications. Does your tattoo portray an appealing image or does it tell more of a negative story?
We are running a national Positive Content Competition and are looking for young people to submit positive content (such as apps, videos or other media content, websites, games etc) that has been designed to be used by other young people. If you have created something amazing, or have a brilliant idea for content, you could be eligible to enter.
We are also looking to create an online reputation check list for 11-18 year olds and would love to hear any top tips or strategies you have in place to manage your digital tattoos. Email us with your ideas: [email protected]
