Digital Footprints

In Kathleen Morris's article "Teaching Children About Digital Footprints and Online Reputations," Morris makes a claim that the internet should not be a scary place for students to post things and explore, but they need to be properly taught on how to go about doing that. Morris uses the term "digital footprints" as a way to describe things that we all leave behind when we post, or even browse, on the internet. I agree with Morris's stance.

As an educator, we have an obligation to make sure our students are well prepared for the future. In the future, Internet usage is going to be on the rise more than it currently is. To shelter our students and children away from that would be doing them a great disservice. Of course, we want to make sure that they are properly protected from the dangers of the world, but we can do that in a way that quells our worries and also promotes a healthy learning environment for them. 

Morris uses the term "YAPPY" to simplify what students should avoid posting online. These are: "Your full name, address (of your school, home, or email), phone number, passwords, your plans." These are all very good things to avoid posting on the internet. Unfortunately, with social media being a tremendous part of the youth's everyday life, some of these cannot be avoided. I wholeheartedly think that our job should be to stress the importance of privacy features that many social media platforms offer.