Digital Tattoo
Image Source: Parent Info
A tattoo is defined as a mark (a person or a part of the body) with an indelible design. Indelible means a mark that that cannot be removed. Have you ever thought about your "digital tattoo?" The marks you have made on the Internet that cannot be removed. Interestingly enough, my thoughts on tattoos follow my same thoughts on my Digital Tattoo. I always said if I was going to get a tattoo, it was going to have to be something very meaningful to me. Especially because it was a mark on my body I cannot remove. I thought about it multiple times but I could not think of something I wanted on my body forever, therefore I have no tattoos. Plain Jane, I know! My same mindset follows my Digital Tattoo. Since I was a young girl I knew I wanted to become a teacher. It was my passion. Social media was on the rise my freshmen year of college. Our professors quickly warned us to be careful what we post on social media because it can be viewed by whom ever and even if we delete it, it will remain available. My parents were also very adamant me not posting anything of true importance on there because it can come back to haunt me. With that being said I was very cautious on what I posted. I made sure anything I posted wasn't very detailed or in depth. I would post of quotes, daily updates, and pictures, but it was mostly to stay in communication with family and friends. I always made sure my profiles were private and that I do not accept people I don't know. My private outlook definitely showed when I completed my digital tattoo.
I started my search with Nuwber. I figured since I purchased my home that my address would show up, which it did. It did not have my exact age, it gave me a range of 30-35. The interesting part is it provided my parents landline as my phone number. It also said I had 2 other previous addresses, one being a workplace, but they only provided zip codes for free. It did list my entire family as relatives (mom, dad, sister, brother), and even my cousin.
(Image Source: Personal Photo)
The next site I searched myself on was Google. One of the first things that popped up was my school picture that is on my school website.
(Image Source: Personal Photo)
After that the next thing that pops up is my public YouTube channel. We had to create one for our previous class and use it for educational purposes.
(Image Source: Personal Photo)
(Image Source: Personal Photo)
On the next couple of searches People Finders, Instant Checkmate, the same information kept popping up, which are my address, age, relatives, and previous two schools I worked for. The only page that was different was Intelius because it also provided my cell phone number.
This was an interesting assignment. I learned a lot about my Digital tattoo. I did not think that I wouldn't show up on the google search. It was shocking to see how little information popped up. I knew my house would show up since I purchased it, but I thought a lot more info would've showed up on my career and there was not much. Also the website provided for teacher salaries does not work. Nothing in a general search will pop up on my teacher salary, but since I am a city public school employee my salary is public and you can search it.
I wasn't upset that I did not have much of a digital presence, but my focus is more on how can I properly build my Digital Tattoos in ways that will benefit me and my career. I do think it is important for children to be educated on this. The generation we have now are super tech savvy, so I think this is a must-have conversation on how your digital tattoo can help or hinder your opportunities. Once again I think this is a team effort and all parties involved need to help in educating our youth about Digital Tattoos. The student them self, then the teacher can educate the student on how it works, meanwhile the parent can monitor and make sure they are using technology appropriately. This summer my project is going to be to work on building a positive digital tattoo.
Here are some more Resources on Digital Tattoos
As an FYI the teacher salaries page does work.
ReplyDeleteYes, but when I entered my name with teacher salary it did pop up but I definitely had to be more detailed. :)
DeleteAmelia-
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have done a good job of keeping your digital tattoo to a minimum! I have often thought about this though- isn't it interesting that we have to be so mindful of our social media presence as educators? We are one of the few fields that have to be very mindful of our image outside of our job. Most of my friends just need to worry about how they present themselves at work, then can be worry free as soon as their off the clocks. I do not think any of us are bad people; however, we are so scared to post about a political opinion, a controversial topic, having a glass of wine, etc. It is just interesting that somewhere along the line teachers got held to a much higher standard!
Nellie