My Identity Through a Screen

After searching my digital identity on multiple social media platforms, I quickly realized that there are a lot of “Meg Anderson’s” which made finding information about myself quite difficult. There was no trace of my digital identity on Google Images, YouTube, or Twitter (although my Twitter is only used for professional purposes).

When searching my name on Facebook, my profile was easily accessed. Although, out of all of my social media accounts, I am most proud of my Facebook identity and the message it gives to the public about who I am. Anything I post are mainly directed for my family members to see, so it is very “clean.”

Simply searching my name on Instagram gave no profile of myself. However, when I googled my Instagram username, my profile showed up right away. I clicked on it, but, since I have a private account, none of my posts could be seen. But my bio revealed a range of information about my digital identity including my profile picture of my boyfriend and I, my Snapchat username, my program at the U of R, and a link to my VSCO account. So from here, I clicked on the VSCO link which took me to my entire gallery of photos (not on private). While I haven’t actually posted on VSCO for a couple years, all of my photos were still available that students or parents could see. Since the posts are not recent, they could get the wrong idea about my digital identity which is being portrayed. My pictures are from high school, and, while I have never posted anything “scandalous” or “embarrassing” I definitely have a more mature and professional identity now than I used to. I also realized that it did not make sense for me to have a private Instagram account if people had access to my other social media anyway. I began to wonder if these images were something that I would want people to see in a professional manner. Some may be inappropriate (like photos on the beach), so I am considering in making my digital information more private. 

In the future, I need to continue to question myself about whether I would want my employers or students and parents to see what I am posting, to keep my accounts private, and to avoid inappropriate language, encounters, and pictures.