By Josadae Cruz

You may have seen Minga posts about your digital footprint, and wondered like me, “What’s that?” I wondered if someone was spying on me, and if they were, that would be the most boring spy ever.

There is no secret spy trying to figure out who you like, but there is a trail of where you go and what you look at. This is called the digital footprint. This is not necessarily bad, but it is when you make an image of yourself that could be embarrassing in the future when you are trying to get a professional job or something.

Your footprint can lead your future employer to your real identity. If you post things that might be embarrassing in the future, then you should not post them now. The most common way for people to find out who you are is your social media presence. Every photo, as well as the comments you post, are like a scrapbook of your life online. Even if you turn on privacy settings, all that information is out there.

When you apply to college or when you apply for a new job, almost certainly they will Google you. When your information comes up, what does it say about you? Are there photos of you doing fun family activities, or doing things with friends and club activities? Or, are there photos that you would be shy to show to your new boss?

Even the things that you say online create a picture of who you are. Perhaps you use more bad words than you should, and you should never post racist language. This all says something about who you are, even if it is just for fun now.

So, to sum this all up, the thing you should consider is that when you are online, remember that this is part of a picture of yourself that you can never erase. It is just not a bad yearbook photo, it is a big image of who you are as a person and what you present to the world.

So, before you hit that comment button and before you post that picture of yourself doing something that your parents might not like, think about it. Take a moment to think about what these things say about yourself. I looked at mine and I am making changes, you should do the same.