Imagine life with no
mobile phone,
digital camera,
Mp3 player,
computer or Internet.
Pretty scare, huh?
Technology has become so much a part of our lives,
that it's impossible to go without it for even a day.
Why jot down your lecture notes when you
can easily type them up on your laptop?
And with text messaging capability,
we can communicate with more people without saying a word.
Blogs have replaced journals,
and where we once had photo albums,
we now use photo bukets.
We even post our personal videos online for all to see.
Living in the digital age has its benefits.
We can get a lot done with one simple click of a button.
But while technology is useful,
we've also all become "open books" because if it.
And that's not always a good thing,
especially when there are people out there
waiting to exploit personal details of your life.
Facebook, Myspace and Friendster
are just three of many social networking sites
used by young people today.
It's not difficult to get an account,
and besides the fun applications,
members love that they can use these sites to track down
long-lost friends and make new ones.
A typical user profile on such sites would include personal information
like name, birth date, e-mail address and hobbies.
If you want, you can even divulge your mobile number,
school, home address, or post photos and videos.
But how do you know you've gone too far?
When it comes to disclosing personal details,
how much is too much?
When you share your daily escapades and lifestyle activities online,
it's east for others to track you.
Everyone who uses the Internet leaves behind a
"digital footprint" and a "digital shadow".
Your digita; footprint is the amount of data you have created
about yourself,
through online social networks, e-mails, use of mobile phone, and downloading of music and movies.
Your digital shadow refers to the
digital information generated about you on a daily basis.
Now that you're aware of this,
you might want to be more selective about
how you present yourself to others online.
By Seventeen (Magazine)
