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Don’t think.

This is the problem with today’s society. We don’t think. I mean, can you blame us? With our heads wrapped up in the bright, colorful, fast-moving, dopamine-inducing phenomenon that is social media, it is nearly impossible to take a step back and consider the consequences of our actions. 

Background

In the past couple of years, adolescents’ access to social media has skyrocketed. The National Library of Medicine finds that up to 95% of youth 13-17 report using a social media platform. On top of this, despite the fact that the required minimum age on most social media platforms in the United States is 13, nearly 40% of children 8-12 have some form of social media. Clearly, there has been a drastic increase in the number of young people that are active on social media. This means that one’s lifelong digital footprint is beginning to materialize from an alarmingly young age.

What exactly is a “digital footprint”? A digital footprint is the trail of data one leaves behind when using the internet. In other words, it’s the culmination of all of your interactions with digital platforms, and thus, the media’s perception of who you are. This means that one has the ability to carefully craft their social media persona in a way that portrays them in a respectable light, but it also means that one wrong move can taint a person’s reputation forever.

Thus, it is essential that we fight the urge to keep mindlessly posting and scrolling through our feeds, and instead, take a moment to think about how we are interacting with the media. People fail to recognize, especially at a young age, that the actions that they take on social media can have impacts that reach far into their future. 

College and the Media

There have been many instances in which people have been denied valuable opportunities due to an outstanding flaw in their digital footprint. Kaplan, a global educational services company, surveyed admissions officers at nearly 250 top colleges and universities in the United States about the role of social media in their admissions. Of these, 27% reported visiting applicants’ social media profiles, and 66% believe social media profiles are fair game when making decisions. As such, the content on one’s social media profile could potentially be the determining factor in their admissions decisions. 

Back in 2017, Harvard College rescinded at least ten admissions offers after discovering that a group of students traded sexually explicit memes and messages that targeted minority groups in a private Facebook group chat. Had it not been for their oblivious and derogatory remarks, these students would have otherwise been admitted into one of the finest and most prestigious institutions in the world. One’s activity on social media, even behind the doors of a seemingly private chat room, can completely alter the course of one’s life. 

Employment and the Media

This remains true even beyond one’s college years. In fact, The Manifest reports that about 90% of employers look at potential employees’ social media profiles, and 79% have rejected a candidate based on what they discovered. Some content that can result in candidates getting denied includes hate speech, images of heavy partying or drug use, illegal or illicit activities, poor grammar, and confidential or sensitive content about former employers.

Those who are conducting interviews and scouting potential employees are tasked with the job of determining whether someone is eligible for the given position, but also a decent person in general. A key part of determining this is by examining their reputation and presence in the media. “If you come off as a supremely professional individual on LinkedIn, yet you have images of you partying on Facebook, that’s not going to go over so well,” said David Walter, hiring manager at Electrician Mentor, in an interview with PR Newswire. It is important to maintain a consistently polished and positive image of yourself across all public online platforms in order to prevent unwarranted doubts or misgivings.

Student Voices

Gwyneth Mahase ’27, one of the few teenagers who has actively chosen to stay off of social media, voices her concerns. “There are potential impacts on my future, which I don’t want to have to worry about. I don’t want to be in a position where I engage with problematic or hurtful content and have that get back to a college, a job, or anyone that I am trying to impress,” she said.

Social media presence is especially prominent in the minds of seniors who are in the midst of the college application process. “I think that if you’re smart, you’re always going to be conscious of what you are posting on social media. However, I do think that this idea of a digital footprint is something that’s in the back of a lot of kids’ minds during the college application season, especially if they have said something negative,” said Isabel Goldfarb ’25.

Other students admit that the idea of monitoring social media presence has always been ingrained in their minds. “I feel like it was always drilled into me that anything posted on social media during high school could get back to schools later, so I have been careful to control what I put out for public consumption,” said Allegra Lief ’25. 

Darby Sale ’25, another senior at Bronx Science, offers great advice to students who are trying to monitor their social media presence. “One tactic is to think – would I be proud to show my parents this? If not, you probably shouldn’t post it,” she said.

At Bronx Science, many other bright minds share similar thoughts regarding this topic, reaching a general consensus that one’s activity on social media can ultimately be very impactful to their future.

What Can You Do?

So how can you ensure that your digital footprint doesn’t come back to haunt you at the worst possible moment? 

The answer is to proactively track your online presence, starting as early as possible. The first step is to understand what is already out there. Simply search up your name on various digital platforms and record the results – this can include any posts, comments, or content that you are associated with. Next, decide which information you no longer want to be public. Start by removing this content from your own platforms, and then reach out to others and politely ask that they do the same. This will help guarantee that any content available online relating to you, coming directly from your accounts and accounts of others, reflects you in the best possible light.

Even after you have successfully removed this content, the job is not quite done. Be constantly mindful of what you are posting online and who has access to it. As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. It is almost always better to avoid an issue from arising in the first place than to have to clean up your mess after the fact. As a general rule, it is almost always better to keep your social media accounts private and only allow your family and friends access to them, as this narrows the scope of people that your content reaches.

In our increasingly media-oriented world, the manner in which one conducts themself online is becoming more imperative than ever. Monitoring digital footprint is a crucial skill that people of all ages should develop. This sets a precedent for more opportunities in life and thus, a greater chance of success.

With our heads wrapped up in the bright, colorful, fast-moving, dopamine-inducing phenomenon that is social media, it is nearly impossible to take a step back and consider the consequences of our actions.