MY ONLINE TATTOO (AND MY REAL TATTOO)

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I thought a lot about this blog post. How to start it, how to dive deeply into my online presence, and what footprint I leave for an outsider looking into my life digitally as their first impression of me. 


I have Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Snapchat. That is a lot of platforms to keep up with and scroll through on a daily basis. Like Juan Enriquez stated in his TED Talk, your online presence is like hundreds of internet tattoos. They can be beautiful, but they stay forever. As also a person that has three tattoos, I can attest to that being true. These tattoos are my form of expression, much like my online presence. But once you decide to post a photo, it is out there forever. Much like the ink I decided to put on my body. Someone has it. Forever. And that is scary, scary enough for the 14-year-old to take action in taking all of her social media accounts down until further notice. 


Enriquez also looks at the surprisingly permanent effects of digital sharing on our personal privacy. He compares our internet presence to Sisyphus, how he rolled back up and down. And after you join the world of social media, you’ll be rolling up and down mostly in that same way. The second article resonated with me a lot more. The young girl realized once she was old enough to join social media, that she was not new to that world at all. Her family had been posting about her since she was born, and to her, that was a problem.


“I confessed that I felt like my privacy was violated because I felt like they had no right to take pictures of me or quote me on their Facebook and Twitter accounts without my permission.”


Much like her, I feel constantly exposed. I feel the need to show what I am doing on a daily basis as well as watch what others are doing as well. Gone are the days of sharing stories verbally from an experience you had in the past. Now, we see people’s lives in real-time. Almost as if you do not post about it, did you really even do it? 


Diving deeper into my social media presence, I have stayed vigilant in ensuring my posts do portray the best version of myself. I have posted a few at a winery, enjoying the weekend on a boat, or a cute selfie with my new kitten. If someone were to view my profiles, they would likely come to the conclusion that I am much like every other 21-year-old. I spend a lot of time with my family, I laugh a lot, and have a glass of wine (or two) every once in a while. My social media though does not make me who I am. But the first impressions of social media might portray me differently than my actual personality or appearance. We filter our photos on Instagram much like we filter our lives on social media. Only the best parts of us are shown, giving an unrealistic expectation. Although these are just my thoughts, I do believe my internet presence is clean and I have protected myself in that way. 


I dug back into my pages from years past and realized I have shared a few controversial opinions on reproductive rights, women’s rights, and debates. Those things have since been removed. But now, the social media world is let in on my inner thoughts about wedge issues during a time that viewpoints on these things are widely debated. So if I could remove one thing forever, it would be those controversial opinions. I use two different email addresses, one for school-related items/professional items and one for promotions and social media. This creates a great divide and I think that is important for keeping these things separate.   


This blog was very insightful for me to reiterate how important it is to monitor our social media the same way we do with our bodies and appearances. Because now, it is basically one and the same.   



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Sources:


https://www.fastcompany.com/90315706/kids-parents-social-media-sharing


https://www.ted.com/talks/juan_enriquez_your_online_life_permanent_as_a_tattoo?language=en

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