THIS IS A DIGITAL FOOTPRINT AND THIS AND THIS ALSO..

4 hours per day on average from mobile Internet users aged 16 - 65 in Turkey. Well, what would your reaction be if I told you that your posts on social media, your mails or even a comment increase the carbon dioxide emission to nature ?

Let’s start from the very beginning with the digital footprint.

Our footprints are simply our data tracks, our portraits in the digital environment system. Our digital footprint includes the messages you send, the websites you visit, the e-mails you send and the information you send to online services. In fact, the longer you stay online is meaning growing your digital footprint. Considering that digital transformation is happening so quickly and that we spend a lot of time online during this pandemic period, it can be said that it is impossible not to leave a trace behind. According to the data we have in the world last year increased internet and social media usage sons began to use a year of 300 million signals than the internet, the total Internet users number 4.5 billion worldwide, while in Turkey has reached 62 million. A similar increase in this regard is seen in the use of social media. Worldwide users of social media 3.8 billion, while in Turkey has reached 54 million. According to the data, a person spends an average of 6 hours and 43 minutes using the internet and 2 hours and 24 minutes on social media. With the pandemic situation, people’s closure at home caused this period to prolong. According to a study conducted by Anadolu University Social Media and Digital Security Education Application and Research Center, computer usage increased by 70% and mobile phone usage increased by 80%.

We can explain our digital footprints that we have created digital environment in two ways; The first is active footprints and the second is passive footprints.

Our active footprints are those we left on purpose. For example, the mails we send someone, the questionnaires and forms we filled out, the posts we made on social media accounts and the blogs we wrote can be given as examples.

Our passive footprints are traces that we left unknowingly or indirectly. Using the opposite party’s location information to reach someone, the sites and shopping where advertising companies determine our wishes can be said.

Let’s take a look at the carbon emissions of our mail and video monitoring that we do the most during the day:

• E-mail sending: A spam email has a floor space equivalent to an average of 0.3 grams of CO2 emissions, and a regular email has a floor space of 4 grams of CO2. If you are sharing an additional larger email, the email may have a carbon footprint equivalent to 50 grams of CO2.
• Watching videos: According to ITE Projects working on data centers, every 10-minute video causes 1 gram of CO2 emission.

According to “Lets Do It,” the non-Life association; If every person in France deletes 50 e-mails, that equates to turning off 1.6 billion low-energy light bulbs for one hour and half a day’s electricity consumption from one end of Paris to the other and also equates the energy for brighten for 24 hour Eiffel Tower.

According to the data, an 8-year-old children today leaves 70,000 data points on the internet when he/she turns 18, which is enough to imagine how big the footprint we have now. But now is the time to realize what we can do, not what we did!

• How can we manage our Digital Footprint?

There are many areas and issues where we can reduce carbon emissions, but in the simplest form, here are some of the things we can all do:

- We can make privacy settings in our social media accounts, so that we determine our target audience from the very beginning and share our posts directly.

- You can delete apps that you do not use on your phone and smart devices.

- You can periodically clean your gallery and sent out-of-date posts.

- You can try to keep the number of tabs low in your internet browsers.

- You can join meetings by keeping your camera turned off when not needed.

- You can keep track of your screen usage time and try to reduce it.

- You can mute notifications that you do not use frequently and are distracting.

- We can use two different e-mail accounts, personally and professionally. In this way, we make a serious difference between the two, from the advertisements we receive to the information we share.

Our digital footprint is the portrait you create in a digital environment system. Therefore, remember that every data you share, write or add is saved !

Sources of Inspiration :

https://www.yapayzekatr.com/2020/11/18/dijital-ayak-izi-nedir-nasil-yonetilir/

https://pazarlamasyon.com/dijitalde-biraktigimiz-izler-dijital-ayak-izi/

http://www.ictmedia.com.tr/News/Index/9527/sosyal-medya-ve-internetin-gezegene-bedeli