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Technology is great but every time you use it, you leave a trace of yourself. It could be in an email, a text or an uploaded image so take care with these simple hints.

Almost everything you do with technology leaves a trace: something called a digital footprint.  Your digital footprint is a bit like a map of everywhere you’ve been with your technology - everyone you’ve spoken to (and sometimes, what you’ve said), every image or comment you’ve posted, and every file you’ve downloaded.  Digital footprints are very hard, in fact almost impossible, to erase. Here are some examples:


• Text messages and emails can be saved by the person you sent them to, and forwarded to many more people than you ever intended.

• You can delete a blog, or a comment or image you’ve put on a site like MySpace or Facebook, but you don’t know how many people have downloaded it before you delete it – and a copy is always saved in the site’s archive.

• Even a one-on-one IM chat can turn into a public conversation if the person you’re talking to decides to record or copy it.

• Technology is great, but you do need to take some care about how you use it.