Most hiking or recreational trails have a sign that says “Leave no trace,” (BC Parks website, 2020). If I had my choice, leaving no trace would be my digital presence.
In mapping my residential-visitor digital presence, my digital presence map (White, 2020) was not a surprise. I am clearly a visitor in both the personal and institutional domains. Work and school require a begrudging degree of being a resident or leaving a digital trace. Even with minimal social media applications, such as Facebook, I consider myself much more of a visitor than a resident.
My digital presence that leaves the greatest trace is very new, and admittedly moving me out of my comfort zone: this WordPress blog. One of the reasons I wanted to do this master’s program was to challenge myself in expanding my use of technology, including a digital presence.
It scares me, but I will take this as an opportunity for growth.
References
BC Parks website. (2020, April 23). BC Parks: Know before you go: http://bcparks.ca/explore/notrace.html
White, D. (2020, April 23). Just the mapping. Youtube: https://youtu.be/MSK1Iw1XtwQ
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Hi Shelley,
What do you think is behind your desire to leave no (digital) trace ?
Hi Denys, what a excellent question! I will try to keep my response brief.
Upon reflection, my comments of leaving no trace is specific to social media than digital presence in general. I was introduced to the work of Tristan Harris via Sam Harris’ podcast “Making Sense-episode #71 What is Technology doing to us?” speaking to how manipulative social media design is in order to take up more of your time because that is their business model. I have a great aversion to the thought of being manipulated in this way so I’m working are trying to strike my personal comfort balance.
Love Sam Harris, nice to see someone mentioned his podcast. I listened to that episode as well. Despite knowing I am being manipulated, i often find it hard to resist being sucked into the depths of the internet.
With the unit 2 readings, I’m realizing digital contribution is a life skill. I need to work my my deep seeded suspicion. And also get over that I’m not that important. People aren’t likely to stumble across my digital presence in large numbers!