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Social Media: What are we leaving behind?

‘St  When I was young, I would often go hiking with my grandpa. We would often go down to the gorge, where there were these beautiful trails. At the mouth of the trail, there was a sign that always stuck out to me. It read: “Take nothing but photos. Leave nothing but footprints.”

My papa explained that it was an interesting way to say to keep the parks clean. Do not take anything, and do not leave your garbage.

I am reminded of this sign as I think of what we all “leave” online, and how it is often a lot more than footprints.

Much like our national parks, it is important to keep our records online clean. According to a 2018 study, 70% of employers in the United States search potential applicants on social media before hiring them (Hayes, 2018). Your own social media presence is quickly becoming a deciding factor in whether you can get that position.

We often don’t think too much about what we post online. It is something we do at home. It is something physically removed from our “professional life”, so it becomes mentally removed from it as well. It’s something we often do curled up in bed, or lazily sprawled out on the couch.

The problem is, unlike physical footprints, which fade after the next rainfall, our social media footprints last much, much longer. In fact, sometimes it is impossible. Many social media apps have you jump through numerous hoops before you can delete your account, and others do not let you at all. In many cases, what you post online will be there forever. This issue has given rise to the debate over “The right to be forgotten”. This refers to whether an individual has the legal right to request for companies like Google to delete their information from searches (Arthur, 2014). The technology, in this case, has quickly outrun the laws regulating it. This so called right has proven very controversial. Some regard it as internet censorship. When such a thing is going to be removed, it has become tradition for internet users to try and preserve it.

In 2003, pictures of singer Barbra Streisand’s house began to appear online. She requested these images to be quietly removed. However, as they began to be removed, many internet users began reposting it again and again. In her efforts to erase the information, it only became hundreds of times more widespread. This even became dubbed the “Streisand Effect” (Merriam-Webster, 2018).  I mean, the fact that I can bring it up now is proof enough of its effectiveness. Sometimes the more we push back at something, the worse it gets. Are we just to resign ourselves to our fate, that anything we say and do on the internet may one day be used against us?

I am not sure. All I can say, is that we all should approach the internet with caution. It is difficult to function in today’s society without any connection to it, but being aware of the dangers and pitfalls on the web can help immensely. 

When I look my own name online, I cannot even find myself. Will that always be the case? I’m not sure. When it comes to the internet nowadays, it seems impossible to “leave nothing but footprints”. It’s inevitable that each time you visit, you will be leaving something behind. It’s important we are always thinking about what that is.

References

Arthur, C. (2014, July 4). “What is Google deleting under the ‘right to be forgotten’, and why?” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jul/04/what-is-google-deleting-under-the-right-to-be-forgotten-and-why

Hayes, L. N. (2018, Aug 9).  “More than half of employers have found content on social media that caused them not to hire a candidate, according to recent CareerBuilder survey.” PR NewWire. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/more-than-half-of-employers-have-found-content-on-social-media-that-caused-them-not-to-hire-a-candidate-according-to-recent-careerbuilder-survey-300694437.html

Merriam-Webster. (2018). “Words we’re watching: ‘Streisand Effect’. https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/words-were-watching-streisand-effect-barbra