By Emma Weidmann | Editor-in-Chief
We increasingly live online. Scrapbooks used to be a collection of personal memories and photos that lived on a shelf or in a forgotten box in the basement. Now, they’re on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, and they exist at least semi-publicly.
Using social media as a virtual diary can make it easy to connect with long-distance friends and family, especially in college when the miles between us feel like a galaxy. But, living so publicly has very real repercussions that tend to be forgotten or downplayed.
Let’s return to the very basics of stranger danger and internet safety that we learned as children. Be careful what personal info you put on social media, like the name of your house and how many of you live there.
Even posting TikToks about your dorm — which one you live in and how you decorated it — can pose potential danger and invite the wrong eyes. Common trends like “Day in the Life” videos give an accessible look into your daily routine — where you are at certain times of day, when you’re not at home and when you return. That is one of the most dangerous things you can publicize: and while these videos can be fun to make and interesting to watch, when they go viral, they make you vulnerable and exposed.
Your digital footprint is your trail. Don’t let someone follow it.