Ah, September. The beginning of a fresh academic year. Hopeful students both incoming and returning will be flocking Canadian campuses over the next few weeks armed with new notebooks (electronic or otherwise) and reinvigorated aspirations for the coming twelve months. It’s an exciting time of year, but it’s also a time of year when it can be easy to slip up and share a bit too much online – both of ourselves and our friends. Here are a few tips to ensure that you’re doing all you can to protect the digital identities of you and your friends.
Photos
September is chock-full of social events. From parties to pub crawls, socializing is a September staple at Canadian universities coast to coast. Whether you’re an Instagrammer or a Snapchatter (or even a Twitter or Facebook devotee), it often feels like second nature to grab a photo of a party or social event and share it instantly. After all, the point of social media and communication platforms—especially image-based ones—is to share your world in pictures at the touch of a button.
Before sharing, however, take a second to check in with those who are in the picture. They may not want it shared, especially if it features them consuming alcohol or drugs. Asking for their permission to post takes only a few seconds, and can save them a lot of trouble down the line (especially if a future employer finds the picture).
For your own protection, it’s a good idea to ask others to check with you before they post a photo of you. Also, Facebook and Instagram both have features which allow you to verify posts you are tagged in before they appear on your own profile. Definitely use this, and be discerning in what you allow yourself to be tagged in.
Sharing Your Daily Information
In the lead-up to classes, it can be fun to find out who you’ll be sharing those classes with. This often results in students posting their class schedules, or details about their schedules, online. While this allows students to connect with colleagues and classmates prior to the first day, it also makes it easier for students to be stalked or followed. Wait until class to find out who else is in it – it isn’t worth the risk to share your schedule online.
Similarly, be careful about sharing things like details of where you are living, your whereabouts on campus, and evening plans. Letting a few people know your activities can increase your safety (in case something goes wrong, it’s good for some people to know where you are or were), but letting everyone know can be very dangerous.
Posting About Classes (and Professors)
If you’re a student, there’s a very good chance that at some point you have made a post on social media about a class, a professor, or a classmate. Sharing frustrations and humour from classes can be a great way to let off steam, but it can also get you in trouble. Be careful about what you say about professors and classmates. You never know what will get back to them.
In addition to impacting your own digital identity, this can have an impact on theirs. Just think about how you would feel if people were quoting, teasing, or judging you on social media without your knowledge. Now, imagine how it would feel for an employer to discover this years later. Do you want to be responsible for that kind of damage?
At the end of the day, protecting your digital identity and that of your friends is up to you. It’s up to you to be careful about what you post and to ensure that those implicated in your posts are protected. The above are just a few tips to get you started, but you should always do your best to think critically about what you are sharing, why you’re sharing it, and who it impacts.
Let us know your tips for protecting yourself and your friends online in the comments, and have a great start to the school year!
Written By Samantha Summers
Edited By Eseohe Ojo
Feature Image “Back to School” by Martin Vorel, used with CC0 licensing.
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