Why children should have a digital footprint

Editor's note

Many employers now “google” their top candidates when deciding who the right person is for the job. But what if there’s nothing to “google?” Rachel Buchanan writes that having no digital footprint might be as bad as having a badly managed one.

Buchanan’s research with a focus group of 33 children aged 10-12 years found they had high awareness of their “digital footprint”, but only as a liability and not as a potential benefit. Keeping things like your address, personal conversations and compromising photos private is appropriate, but sharing school projects, writing and awards on social media could benefit children later in life.

Sophie Heizer

Assistant Education Editor

Top story

While digital footprints are considered to be a liability, if managed well they can be an asset. Shutterstock

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