'Til Death Do You Tweet': How Your Digital Footprint Can Have A Real Effect On Your Personal, Professional Life
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Eyewitness News is working to bring you stories committed to helping our community heal and grow with the issues now at the forefront. Social responsibility is important now more than ever when it comes to what we post on social media.
Our Vittoria Woodill gets some advice from a life-tech expert.
You may think to yourself, 'What's the worse that can happen if I post this picture or these few words on my social media profile? It means nothing! It's just what I was feeling that day. It's not like anyone will remember!' Well, that's not true at all.
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"Everything online is searchable and recoverable," Stephanie Humphrey said.
That's according to Humphrey, a technology and lifestyle expert who's "Til Death Do You Tweet" seminars teach students, parents, and companies how to be better digital citizens.
She warns we have a social responsibility now more than ever on social media because of what's called "cancel culture." It's very real and could have a real effect on our personal and professional lives.
"One bad tweet, everyone is ready to write you off. Stuff that's coming out, folks are losing their jobs daily because of what they're posting," Humphrey said. "So it's really important for people to understand the idea of their digital footprint, understand that it might not always be you contributing to it because everyone has a phone and everyone is ready and that becomes a permanent part of who the internet knows you to be. You could be risking a lot of future opportunities for one small indiscretion, one joke or one post that you didn't even think about that might come up later on to hurt you."
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One example could be Philly's own Kevin Hart, when a tweet prevented him from hosting the Oscars.
"I think if you consider yourself a compassionate human being at all, just an awareness and an understanding at this time," Humphrey said. "You can still post whatever you want but there needs to be some context around what you post."
Humphrey also mentions how important it is to do your due diligence when sharing information as well. Don't just read those headlines, she suggests doubling checking your sources and information before sharing.
We're all in this together. So let's make sure we're helping each other and not hurting one another in the real world and the digital world.
Watch the video for Vittoria Woodill's full report.