Social media has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I feel certain others my age can say the same thing. My philosophy is to never post anything you would not want the whole world to see. The question is, "How do you avoid living a life on social media when it's all around you?". For some, that would be simple; just do not download an app and create an account. For people like me, who have had social media around them all their lives, it would not be so simple to just deactivate an account. Everything posted is somewhere in the world. So how can I protect my privacy? How can I become less known for my carbon footprint?
The issue of privacy has affected me personally. I have had hacked accounts in the past where I had someone contacting me and holding it hostage. It was not fun and quite scary that someone had access to all of the pictures and messages I had sent on that account. I eventually gave up trying to get it back. I am not the only one to be affected by this. Many people all across America experience this. The biggest platforms hacked are Instagram and Facebook.
Although these numbers are small, they show that a huge portion of the world is on the internet in some way. This means that all these people are susceptible to having their information stolen.
It is not just strangers on the internet that leak private information and photos. Sometimes, the people that you think love and care about you the most are the people that post pictures when you are asleep or because it's funny and many times just taken out of context to make it appear suggestive when the picture or comment was totally innocent. A more recent issue that has taken prominence in social media is the idea of revenge pornography. Revenge pornography can ruin lives and careers. Social media platforms are being used for this horrible act, regardless of intent.
The next question is, "How can we protect ourselves online?". A few things you can do to ensure privacy and security are to create strong, strong passwords that are changed frequently and that the two-factor authentication is turned on. Most phones automatically offer this now as a way to protect ourselves from hackers. Keep your phone and platforms updated with security to ensure maximum benefits.
A phenomenon that people need to be aware of is "phishing". This is when our information is willingly handed over to hackers, and someone reaches out to you through a bogus account. When you respond, they capture your information. Phishing schemes can usually be easily spotted, as they will have misspellings or weird links taking you off the platform. These are all great indicators for a fishing scheme.
A few more ways you can protect yourself are by turning off the personalized ads that may show up on your phone. You can manually turn these off in settings or deny access in the app you are using to personalize ads. You should also begin using a browser to use some of your platforms. Simply having the app on your phone gives the company access to use your data. In the end, the biggest thing you can do to protect yourself is ask yourself what you are protecting.
Social media is an ever-changing space, and with constant developments, it will be hard to keep up with everything. New platforms coming out mean more ways for our data to be accessed. which also means new developments to protect ourselves. The ultimate thing you can do is educate yourself on data security and privacy. I hope that this post has been a good starting point for you to continue your research.
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