Digital Media Never Forgets

Social media users should always be cautious whenever posting something public to the Internet. To say the least, the Internet does not ever forget. This is why hundreds of notable figures, be it politicians, celebrities, news reporters, journalists or even one of your friends have gone under fire for seemingly trivial social media activities. 

Negligent and incautious tweets, Facebook postings, Instagram pictures or even texts may destroy someone's reputation or damage careers. According to Jeffrey Rosen in his article titled "The Web Means the End of Forgetting", all of us stumble over the challenges of living in a world without forgetting, we need to learn new forms of empathy, new ways of defining ourselves without reference to what others say about us and new ways of forgiving one another for the digital trails that will follow us forever. In other words, think twice before sending out a message or image onto the Internet.

(Image Source: okmagazine.com)

(Image Source: i.ytimg.com)

(Image Source: yahoo.com)

Kylie Jenner, an infamous celebrity, has been sprouting a lot of controversial news lately. Not too long ago, she came under fire for the blackface controversy, lip challenge and now, her wheelchair photoshoot which has caused a whirl-storm amidst the disabled and public community alike. However, I find that some of her actions are intentional in order to gain publicity and recognition. Nevertheless, it is indeed terrifying to me that just an image or a short remark could incite hatred and critique from the mass in seconds.

Although there are "delete" and "edit" function tools on social media, there is a "screenshot" function too. This means that no matter how many times you try to delete something on the Internet, once it's out there, it's out there. Thus, I am always mindful about what I post onto digital media. This does not stop me from expressing my own  beliefs and opinions however. I just do it in a more appropriate and heedful way.