When travelers visit Paris, usually one of the top destinations on their list is to see the Mona Lisa. People also end up somewhat disappointed after they see it. The photos online make it seem like a grand piece of art and in some ways, it is, based on simply how famous it is. However, when you are standing around 50 other people cramming behind a barrier for a photo, some of the glamour is lost. Now seeing the Mona Lisa in this way is an experience in itself, but it does not compare to the way that it is presented online. It is important to understand that online, a person can take any persona that they want to. Some people can live entire lives online or be so engrossed in social media, that there real life has nothing to show for it. I recently did a deep dive into my own digital footprint and found some interesting results.
One of things I noticed right away is that my footprint was larger than I thought. I spent a summer writing for a music journal online and had the chance to discover some of my writings from that time in my life. It was also weird to find a pretty popular doctor from another part of the country that shares my name. I know quite little about my father and his side of the family, and it has been told to me that I have relatives in other parts of the country that I may not even know about. Once I met my possible relatives, I discovered my social media footprint which was quick and simple. Aside from a Twitter that I only post on for class purposes, I only use Facebook to keep in touch with old friends. I was able to search a list of profiles of people who shared my name or something similar. Being that my nickname is my birth name, google asked me if I meant Katherine Risley, and gave me results for Caitlin and Kathleen as well. This bothered me more than I thought because now I know that even in the digital space, people assume my name is short for something.
I felt like my digital footprint matched up with my personality. Obviously, I do not post when my boyfriend and I are fighting or when I am angry at my sister. However, in general I post exactly what is going on in my life. I pride myself on being an open book and am not afraid to share with people what is going on. I also believe that if someone wants to know the intimate details of someone’s life than they must be close to that person. That is the beauty of the digital space, people can choose what is shared and what is not.
Something I always get flacked for in my personnel life is that I do not take enough pictures. Unlike a lot of people, I will go through an entire concert without one single photo or video being captured. I am sure I will regret this when I am old and gray, but I get so wrapped up in the moment that I forget. People ask me to show them pictures, and I never have any. I will occasionally make my boyfriend, or a family member take a selfie with me, simply so I can watch them and me grow up. I am thankful that I have photos of my cousins when they were little so I can take note of their growth. However, looking at my photos, I have about 500 memes and 25 photos involving real life. I seem to be able to find a meme to fit each and every situation, which is something than a handful of years ago, would not have been the case. One of the weird things in the digital age, is the rise of recycled content. Most of the memes are taking a photo or clip from a movie/video and making them relatable to whatever situation they want it to resemble. Photos have evolved from a long and arduous process to having the ability and take and recreate photos with the click of a button.
I don’t think media influencers like John Berger and Marshall McLuhan had any thought that their ideas would lead to how far we have come in the digital age. Looking deeper into my digital footprint has given me a chance to see my relationship with media and what it means. It is important to understand how involved people are with media and how it affects the world around them. 50 or even 20 years ago, taking pictures of food was unheard of. Today, it can be considered the Instagram norm. It is just one of the ways that media has changed overtime. Looking deeper into media, I can see its importance but also can see how quickly it can get out of hand. Media or more specifically social media has the great power of creating a fear of missing out. If a person goes to long without scrolling than they will miss out on something important and fall behind on the world. So, enjoying media for all it has to offer is a great thing to do, but it is easy to get so wrapped up in the digital world that the real world becomes a blur.
Katie's communication blog 