Did you ever wonder what occurs after you post on social media? The consequences it may bring and the impacts it could have on one’s life overall could be detrimental to your mental health. It is important to be mindful of what you post, because it all leaves a digital footprint, which lasts forever.
Most people don’t recognize their digital footprint. Every post, comment, or interaction online on social media is tracked. While some might say this is not a big deal, it is. Anything that a person says could be used against them in some unpredictable way in the future.
This form of “no privacy” has a major impact on teens who do not think about the future when they post in the present.
According to Palowise, an organization that compiles and analyzes digital trends and statistics: “63 percent of deleted online content remains retrievable through various means.”
Even though teens may think their information is getting erased, after they send a funny photo of a friend, the information is still out there, just waiting to be retrieved. Activities like these can come back to haunt many teens in the future.
In addition: “The average website contains 32 tracking scripts, collecting data on user browsing behavior.”
So not only can a person’s posted data be leaked, their search history can also be collected and linked back to them.
2 Freshmen from New Providence High School, Declan Troy and Shawn Nilan have illustrated their experience with their Digital Footprint, and the effects it has had/potentially will have on their mental health.
NPHS freshman Declan Troy said: “Most of my search history is about sports in the scores of those games ’cause I’m very interested in that, but nothing really other than that.”
Shawn Nilan, also a freshman, agreed: “I use social media, and I also search mainly social media, but I also just search for other things like sports stuff.”
Troy explained: “I think I’ve commented a few, like, embarrassing things or things that I take back and sometimes when I comment those, I overthink it. That definitely affects me a little bit.”
One thing he considers is how his posts will be received: “I just think of if I’m in one of my peer’s shoes and then how they would be, how they would view me and what I’m doing when I post. Not too much of it would bite me back, but that’s definitely something to keep in mind with posting.”
On the other hand, Nilan said: “Usually I just don’t care about it, but sometimes I think about, like, dang, once I see this post, once I’m a senior, bro, I’m going to think I’m a little pipsqueak and stuff.”
But on the whole, he said: “It’s never affected my mental health because all my posts are all thought out and I make sure that I look good in them.”