If you're a Millennial or a Generation Z teen, you've heard this mantra at least a million times, "Once you click, your post will stick!" Growing up in a cyber world, young adults and youth are bombarded with social media statistics that define their online usage using numbers and values.
For example, 24% of teens go online "almost constantly," facilitated by the widespread availability of smartphones. Aided by the convenience and constant access provided by mobile devices, especially smartphones, 92% of teens report going online daily -- including 24% who say they go online "almost constantly," according to a new study from Pew Research Center. More than half (56%) of teens -- defined in this report as those ages 13 to 17 -- go online several times a day, and 12% report once-a-day use. Just 6% of teens report going online weekly, and 2% go online less often.
But what happens when you see an overwhelming visual of just how your online footprint can be altered with just one selfie? I experienced this last week while posting on one of my favorite applications, Twitter. A couple of pretty informative tech gurus were tweeting about bots and one of the guys Googled and chose my selfie as an example. The other guru then found me on Twitter and tagged me in their conversation. I was a bit overwhelmed by the exorbitant amount of Google pages that consisted of a single image of me and the many places it had traveled and been utilized online. Some simply stole my image and used it for their advertising campaigns while others used my image for some not so awesome and embarrassingly inappropriate websites. My awesome new tech guru Twitter friends opened my eyes to just how far one selfie can travel online. Interestingly enough, my selfie image was posted only once...and it happened to be within one of my Huffington Post articles.
We won't stop posting photos online anytime soon. After all, we're the inaugural generation to the cyber world and we've only just begun to experience the digital world wide galaxy! Bottom line, once our images are posted, they are there forever and become our digital footprint, waiting to be taken to another area of cyber space, with or without our permission. Digital responsibility such as keeping profiles private, accepting friend requests from only those we know, refraining from sharing personal information and leading by example are vital for a safe online presence.
See for yourself just how far your photos have traveled with these easy steps.
Reverse image search using your phone or tablet
You can search Google to find images that are similar to ones you see in search results. This is available on the Chrome app (Android and iPhone or iPad).
1Use the Chrome app to a search for what you want to find.
2Touch the image you want to search with to open a larger version of the image.
3Press and hold the image. In the box that appears, touch Search Google for this image.