Digital Discretion By Majorie Harvey

This past weekend, we wrapped up another Girls Who Rule the World mentoring camp. It is always a life-changing experience for both the girls who attend the camp and the women who share their life experiences. This year there was significant emphasis placed on the digital footprint we are all leaving in the world.

In more than one session, we talked about the fact that one’s social media presence can have a profound impact on college applications, employment, and even social perception. Professionals from various fields shared their accounts of how social media impacts and often influences who they do business with. In my “Girl Talk” session, I gave the young ladies the same advice I’ve given my own children: “Protect your name and reputation by keeping your pages private. Not everything is for everyone.” I also suggest if you choose to have your page public, that you keep some of your experiences and thoughts private.


In today’s current culture, we seem to be obsessed with oversharing. It’s the habit of sharing everything, all the time, with everybody. TMI to the third power! But the reality is that what we think and how we feel changes often and over time. When we expose our thoughts and feelings excessively, we place them in public view for others to judge and scrutinize with little-to-no room for our own interpretation or personal evolution. The expressed ideas become indelible digital content in the cyber universe for all eternity, even if we decide later on to delete what we once felt the need to announce.
Screenshots and other means of copying content ensure what you once felt – once documented – never actually goes away. A pretty frightening thought when you think about how much your ideas have changed over the last 5-10 years. For young people, the changes are even faster and more dramatic.

That’s why I like to practice digital discretion. It’s the art of sharing simple, light-hearted photos and ideas in the digital space that won’t come back to haunt you. By focusing on cheerful matters that promote laughter, family, love, true friendship, or true topics of inspiration, backlash is minimized. There will always be critics and nay-sayer. But by practicing digital discretion, you can protect your reputation by projecting the essence of who you are and what you are all about. Try it! Leave the negativity behind and remember, a little goes a long way.