Tattooing Our Digital Bodies!
Tattooing Our Digital Bodies-or is it real!
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Do you have a tattoo? No. Well, you probably have plenty and you don't even know it. They live all over the web; on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter. Social media and technology expert and professor at Dominican University, Nicole Zumpano correlates the relationship between tattoos of old and modern tattoo's which manifest in posts across social media platforms. She documents the reasons people received tattoos in the past are the same as people who post on social media: medicinal, love, tribute, religion, status, decoration inspiration, and finally regret. REGRET.
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I think most of us have had that thought, "what did I say and if I was in person, I never would have said it." The other point Professor Zumpano emphasizes: social media posts are NOT temporary, as they innocently appear to be. But guess what searches are really popular: how to remove a social media post and how to remove tattoos. Unfortunately, social media posts may be more permanent than tattoos and start occurring at a much younger age ( 81% of two-year-olds have a digital footprint in 2010!).
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On the other side of the spectrum, old-age, I may need to start looking for a Digital Afterlife service to take care of all these DIGITAL-FOOT-PRINTS in the making. The more important question is what is my digital impact: and how does that affect my career. In order to analyze how my social media may affect my career, I dissected my most recent 25 points on Instagram. Here we go:
I divided my post into general categories to analyze any trends:
Politics/ Human Rights: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
50% of my brand!
Source: Instagram
Health: 1
4% of my brand!
Source: Instagram
Friends and Family: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
32% of my brand!
Source: Instagram
Music and Arts: 1
4% of my brand!
Source: Instagram
Natural World: 1, 1
8% of my brand!
Source: Instagram
Professor Zumpano describes how our social media posts can create a brand name for us. Future and present employers may judge us based upon that brand. Therefore, reflecting on what story our posts creates could help focus the way others see us in the world. As you have just seen, I care about human rights and politics. Yet, if an employer is on the political Right, they may think twice about hiring me. Another employer might appreciate how I cherish my family and friends and value music. Overall, I am glad my social media brand highlights care for the world, community, health, and our natural world. I may need to balance out my posts to not be so politically driven😭.
Also, after reading the various inspiration and charity-driven posts. Smart Social, a publican dedicated to using social media for positive accomplishments, highlights many ways people raise awareness and resources for critical issues of our time. I donated to many friends Go Fund Me pages to help raise money during hard COVID-19 times. My social media brand should reflect more the positive awareness and charity, I have supported in the past.
Every-era is an experiment and we are the guinea pigs for social media: especially young students. It's our duty to educate and empower students to know the long-lasting consequences of their digital choices. Every person is currently putting countless tattoos all over their digital bodies while creating long-lasting brands that shadow wherever they go. If students understand the power that exists in their choices, they can utilize them to reach whatever goal they see fit, in their boundless futures.
Great post, Taylor. I loved the way you showed us what percentage of your explored Instagram posts fell under what theme. I was also happy to see how you reflected on the fact that some of your posts might give a future employer pause. These types of reflections are ones we need to make often. We don't necessarily have to change our actions after we reflect but it's still important to do so.
ReplyDeleteGlad I don't have to change mine! Thanks Professor for the feedback!
DeleteHi Taylor,
ReplyDeleteYou are definitely an aware and engaged citizen on the world's stage. I had not heard of Smart Social prior to your post, but it looks like a positive read on how others are making a big difference in the world. I also liked hearing that you used GoFundMe during the height of pandemic, something I did a good deal of last year as well. There were so many businesses and people that had unpredictable needs that emerged in the blink of an eye. I think that would be great if your social media posts can incorporate more of these charitable causes that you are supporting as well!
Yeah, it would be great to connect students to such causes and have them make a donation. Then in turn the school can support that in some capacity. Thanks for brainstorming ideas!
DeleteTaylor, I think it's a great idea to empower your students to teach them the proper etiquette of posting on social media. They can take your suggestions as a grain of salt and either implement or leave them, but at least they will have the foundations needed to be positive digital citizens. I also liked that you analyzed your social media foot print as a rationale for how corporations chose their future employees. These companies might be bias too, because I have heard of managers hiring a man over a woman if they have social media posts pertaining to their children and assume that your family means more to you than your job. It's crazy! I plan to teach children to set their security settings so the public can't see what they post until they are more secure in their careers and much older. DT
ReplyDeletehaha- I don't have kids but I glad they may think I do based upon my Social Media😂. Thanks for your feedback!
DeleteTaylor, I really enjoyed your blog posts. Your images and gifs really embodied your reflections, and made the post more entertaining to read though! I love how you dissected your most recent posts on Instagram. I think this was a great way to analyze if your social media presence is reflecting your outlook and stances in life. I also very much agreed with your thoughts about empowering students to understand that their choices (online and otherwise) are truly impactful on the world. And as educators we should be modeling how to use their choices as a positive impact!
ReplyDelete