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Quick Guide to Digital Footprint & Identity

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Understand

It’s important for kids to stay true to themselves and be responsible online. There are two main guiding concepts here:

  • Digital footprint: Communicating and interacting online creates a trail that is hard to remove – this is called a digital footprint. The footprint can consist of posts, comments, photos, text messages, search history, and more. Once online, getting rid of it is almost impossible. This is something that can affect kids, their family and friends.

  • Digital identity: When online, we’re all global digital citizens, along with people from all over the world. Given we are interacting with different people, we should help kids understand it’s important to be someone positive, with integrity and values.

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Be Mindful

Talk to your kids about how posts, photos, and messages, can be forwarded, copied, manipulated, and saved. What they share, good or bad, can influence their online identity and leave a long-lasting digital footprint.
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Be Sincere

When you’re behind a screen and people don’t see you, it’s tempting to behave in ways we normally wouldn’t. Talk to kids about that. Be open about how a lot of people do things for ”likes” or for followers. Getting ”likes” can be thrilling for kids. Discuss with them they shouldn’t do anything that goes against who they really are. Example: if you’re a vegetarian, should you pretend to love meat for “likes”?
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Be Positive

Chat with your kids about creating a positive presence online. They can work on this by:

  • Learning to take a moment to consider what they are about to reply, forward or post. Is the content true? Could it hurt someone? Does it include private information?
  • Being respectful when interacting with people online
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Try it

Demonstrate how things can stay online for a long time. Do a search with your child of something you did a long time ago that is still online. For example, it could be a search of your name and somewhere you worked or were a student.
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What’s next

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