Digital Writing Reflection
Throughout my academic semester in this writing course, there has been a lot of information to take in, in a relatively short period of time trying to learn and comprehend about digital writing in the modern era is no simple task. Web 2.0 has brought our digital society into an unimaginable place where this new technology has changed the way people communicate with one another and share information. The social life of millions with access to web 2.0 has forever been changed as our digital footprint has taken over word of mouth. People share thoughts, opinions, and ideas instantly with the world with no struggle reaching people. Web 2.0 is the next generation of web technologies that was brought upon us in the early 2000s. In simple terms, this has allowed people to create and share content instantly rather than having to do it via in person, newspapers, or mail. While web 2.0 has become an incredible place for digital writing, the online atmosphere has also become a scary place. You hear on the news constantly instances of hate speech and privacy concerns. Just recently Facebook has created a settlement offer to its’ users for privacy and user data wrongdoings. This is just one instance of how the internet has created an atmosphere for wrongdoings by anyone.
Throughout my semester, I have taken closer looks at how the internet shapes one personally as well as the online society as a whole. In one of my blogs, The Spread of False Information I dive into some of the aspects on how and why misinformation is spread across the web. Misinformation, along with topics such as hate speech, circulate across the web and there is little to no stopping it. Rather, it is in the hands of the user to understand and think logically about what misinformation truly is and how to identify it. When posting content or writing a blog online, it is important to understand what your digital footprint will be. Without looking at incitement online which is actually illegal, we can look at the digital footprints that can affect the life of an online creator. There are two main focus points to think about when thinking and discussing a digital footprint. The first is when thinking about what should be public and what should be private. The next would be thinking about your reputation and considering your future. Yes, these two concepts do have a lot in common, but it is important to understand how these two topics can be separate in order to fully experience the internet in a positive manner.
When talking about privacy online, there are a lot of factors that come into play. Not discussing instances such as Facebook discussed earlier, but understanding when posting content should be public or private. There are numerous ways to share writing and content on the web privately with just a specified group of individuals as well as sharing content with the world. I believe diving deeper into this topic is important when this conversation is sparked. The internet has always been a “free” space to share thoughts, ideas, and visual content. The first amendment comes into play with the internet as the government views the internet in the same way they would view speaking in-person on public property. If the speech is not inciting violence, hate speech, or illegal in any way, it is allowed to go on the internet. The government has made policies that they promote the innovation of the internet and a key factor to this is allowing users to keep their First Amendment rights while on the internet. With this in mind, any user can say whatever they want, but it will affect their digital footprint. What they leave behind on the internet stays on the internet forever. So, when looking at it from this perspective, it is important to acknowledge some content should not always be public. Being a positive person on the internet is important when discussing a digital footprint. A user can express any thoughts they would like, but if it is public, that will instantly affect their digital footprint. That is why it’s important to realize if a user has negative content or thoughts that they want to post online, keeping it private towards a specified audience they choose is very important to consider. This will keep the user out of negative views to the world, but also, they were able to share their thoughts just not to the entire world online. An example of this could be posting content anonymously instead of letting the world know who is speaking. This is not inciting that a user should share negative content, but it is showing that there is no benefit towards posting negative content publicly and this is a concept many journalists are cautious about to make sure their reputation stays intact.
Adding onto the conversation regarding private content, the idea behind reputation is truly under appreciated and not discussed enough with the youth online. It is difficult to understand the fact that everything a user posts online will stay online forever. Content can be deleted, but data vaults will always store every piece of content and it is also fair to say people who have seen it will remember the content posted. The discussion behind managing reputation is discussed in not much light. Posting content that is harmful or hateful in any way can 100% affect the future. Making friends, interviewing for a job, or applying anywhere can resolve back to an online reputation. With this in mind, before a user posts any content, thought, or idea online, they truly need to think of the repercussions of posting anything. This concept has changed the way many users think about posting online. Especially people with a large online following are required to think insightfully about what they want to share with the online world. People still have the habit of posting and saying whatever comes to their mind online, but this is a dangerous game to play as any content has the power to change a users’ online reputation.
Web 2.0 has become an amazing place for online social sharing, but with this there are constant changes to how users should be using the internet. No question the internet can be a knowledgeable, insightful, and fun place to explore. But the internet is also a place where a user can create a negative digital footprint and create a poor online reputation. An example of this can come from celebrity Scott Disick who when advertising for a company, accidently used the email the company sent as a caption instead of an actual caption. This affected his reputation because it showed he did not actually have original thoughts about the product and showed online users he was not too trustworthy when promoting products. This is just one of thousands of examples of the internet being harmful to people. It is definitely easier to call out famous online influencers for their online mishaps rather than nay ordinary online user. But everything that was discussed in this reflection stay the same. It is important to understand your digital footprint and online reputation. This concept is the biggest thing I learned throughout my semester looking at digital writing. I personally never truly thought about what I would post online and if anything, I wore about or posted would have repercussions such as affecting my reputation. After learning about digital writing, the lessons I have learned from the semester have transferred not only to my writing online, but anything I have to do with the internet. Whether I write a blog, write a caption, or post a photo, I have now stopped and given myself time to think about how this can be viewed by the online world. Web 2.0 has changed the way millions of users socialize online, but, keep in mind what you post online will stay there forever so stop and think first about what you are showing the world and how it can affect you outside of the world of web 2.0.
