Social media: Digital footprint sold as memory lane

A few years back social media was this new sparkly thing – and I was this new sparkly teenager using it.?

It has just become a thing, and cybersecurity was not really a talk back then.?

Suddenly, we had all the magic and chaos that is social media for us to use as we please.?

Our parents were not on it yet. Which means two things:

1. Most parents were not at all aware of what their kids were doing online.
2. Even if they did, no one could predict how social media would completely transform the world.

My first Instagram post was on October 5, 2012.?

(AND I JUST FIGURED OUT SOME POINT IN TIME I CHANGED THE CAPTION OF THAT PIC FOR ‘YOUR STALKING JOURNEY HAS COME TO AN END, UNFORTUNATELY’ ?? I have to give teenager Lais some credit).

(And please note that to figure that out, I just had to very painfully scroll through my feed and confront everything I have posted since that day – and it was not a good experience).

And that is exactly what this article is about.?

I’ve been on social media since day one, since Facebook or whatever there used to be before that, and more than watching it grow, I grew up with it.?

I watched as it transformed the world – and the people living in it.?

Not only did I watch, I was part of it. I am part of it.?

I’ve seen social media evolve from something people used to connect to each other to much more than that, with corporations joining and stuff (sorry, not in the mood to overanalyse capitalism right now).?

What I really want to talk about is how the ‘idea’ of social media changed.?

At first, it was a place to connect and socialise (and all that implies – especially for teenagers).?

And teenagers will be teenagers (at least we were – for a while), and our actions really reflect on it.?

But, years later, I heard this concept that really shifted my perspective: digital footprint.?

And it turned out many of our very teenager-ish, very wildly online experiences were, in fact, forever.?

Whatever it is that we decide to share online is forever.?

This is scary for several reasons, but fear not, I’ve made you a list:

1 – Cybercrime (I really don’t have to expand on that one, do I?).

2 – Knowing that my granddaughter can one day go through my tweets (it was, in fact, called Twitter back then) from when I was 12 is genuinely disturbing.

1. Let’s not even about what you post but also about what others post about you (with your consent or not…).

Imagine reading all that just to figure out this is an ad for DeleteMe.?

Well, it is not, at least not a paid one.

But I’ll talk about it anyway.?

There is this company, DeleteMe. According to their LinkedIn page, they “remove unwanted instances of personal information from online sources; making it simple for their customers to keep their personal data from being used and abused by others.”

I first heard about DeleteMe through Mom Uncharted’s TikTok account.?

She is a mom who talks about cybersecurity, especially for parents and advocates for children’s rights and safety.?

Before getting to know her, I was far more relaxed about cyber risks and digital footprints. Which makes DeleteMe’s marketing move of hiring her to talk about their company so assertive.

People are starting to realise the potential consequences of posting whatever it is, and they may want to start deleting some of that stuff…

Should you? Maybe.?