Final Blog Post

I am proud to say that I probably have one of the smallest digital footprints of any teenager that I know. I have never had TikTok or Facebook accounts. I only begrudgingly downloaded Snapchat for the first time when I started at High Point University a few months ago because it was required to communicate with RAs and friends. I use it only when necessary. Similarly, I never even had an Instagram account until I started college when it was required that I do something on the app for a communications course my first semester. Due to that course, I do now have an an Instagram account, but I have never actually posted anything there.

I have chosen to do this purposefully. Prior to 8th grade, I was moderately interested in getting social media. However, my parents wanted me to wait until I was in high school. Once in high school, when I was finally allowed to get it, I mostly just lost interest in it despite my classmates using it more than ever.

One reason is that I took a cybersecurity course in high school that taught me a lot about the privacy and security issues of social media. Learning that 37% of Americans have had at least one social media account hacked concerned me (Abel, 2024b). Another reason might be that I’m autistic and the whole social construct of these apps simply doesn’t appeal to me the way it does to "neurotypical" people. You will certainly never catch me taking a selfie! 

Unlike in the Futurama video from the 1964 World’s Fair, I do not see technology as our savior like previous generations apparently did. In fact, I feel it’s something more to be feared, especially with AI technology becoming more mainstream now, which has the potential to create all kinds of problems. I agree with Elon Musk when he says that "with Artificial Intelligence we are summoning the demon." (McFarland, 2021). 

I do believe that I personally have a decently healthy relationship with today’s technology. I spend a fraction of the amount of time using social media that others do. According to a recent Gallop poll, the American teenagers spend an average of 4.8 hours per day on social media (Adgate, 2023). I’ve seen firsthand how this excessive amount of time scrolling can negatively effect teenagers. I have a younger sister who is frequently on social media, "doom scrolling" for hours on end.

There always seems to be drama and depression among her friends caused by things that happen on apps like Snapchat, and I believe it’s negatively affected her grades and caused issues with self esteem. She posts a lot on all the apps, including Instagram. She is applying this summer for a camp counselor position to work with youth, which will hopefully help remove her somewhat from these platforms. I am concerned about her social footprint and what the images she has posted will say about her character when she is applying for jobs.

When I Google myself, pretty much nothing comes up at all, which is how I'd prefer it to be. There are many other people with my relatively common name but nothing on me specifically. I have a legacy name, Andrew W. O’Donnell, III. Things do come up on Google for both my grandfather, LtGen Andrew W. O’Donnell, and my father, MajGen Andrew W. O’Donnell, Jr., because they have both been in the public eye in newspapers, magazines, and even interviews on television due to their positions as notable generals in the Marine Corps. So even though neither of them has ever had any social media at all, they still have some form of digital footprint.

I don’t even like the fact that someone could figure out that I’m from a military family if they chose to dig into me. Despite me doing my very best to have no traceable online presence, it seems that there is no way to truly escape it in this day and age.

I don’t even like having things such as this blog as it contains a lot of personal information. Call me paranoid, but I will likely delete the entire thing once the course is over. I’ve enjoyed learning the process of creating the blog and the writing, and I’ve certainly enjoyed the content from class. However, I prefer to remain as incognito as possible so this will be gone shortly after it’s fully graded. If you’re looking for me, mail me a letter!

Works Cited:

    Abel, S. (2024b, February 7). Top Social Media Hacking Statistics & Trends for 2024. StationX. https://www.stationx.net/social-media-hacking-statistics/#:~:text=With%20so%20many%20individuals%20having,one%20social%20media%20account%20hacked.

    Adgate, B. (2023, October 18). Gallup: Teens spend more time on social media than on homework. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradadgate/2023/10/18/gallup-teens-spend-more-time-on-social-media-than-on-homework/?sh=22aef64f3dcb