The journey to improving personal privacy is analogous to the pursuit of good health, requiring incremental, consistent changes rather than drastic, overwhelming overhauls to be effective and sustainable.
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Believe it or not, there's a lot of parallels between being healthy and privacy.
Both seem simple on the surface, but get complicated fast.
Yet, both are achievable.
So what can the health journey teach us about the privacy journey?
A lot, I would argue.
Being healthy is hard, and sometimes complicated.
I mean, sure, at its core it's pretty simple.
Eat healthy and get some exercise.
But there's more to it than that.
You have to eat the right kinds of foods, not take in too many calories,
and balance out the exercise that you do regularly.
There can be an overwhelming amount of information
the more you dig into it.
Similarly, defending your right to privacy
seems simple at face value.
Try to avoid giving companies your data.
But just like health, it's actually more complicated
once you start to dig in.
Newcomers quickly learn that there's a mind boggling
amount of complexity when it comes to protecting your data.
It doesn't take long to realize
that there's an endless number of places
where you're leaking information.
Your phone, your apps, your smart TV,
your social media accounts and more.
This leads to a common problem among people
who are just starting out on their privacy journey,
feeling overwhelmed.
If your data is water, it's like you're running it
straight through a bucket full of holes.
Each leak needs to be plugged
and each requires a different sized patch.
Trying to stop all the leaks in your privacy
can feel daunting, paralyzing in some cases.
The result is that often people try to change
everything at once.
Going back to the health analogy,
it's like saying I'm gonna quit smoking,
quit drinking, no more junk food
at 6am to go running before work every day. That is a lot of changes at once. Likewise,
a lot of people, when they start getting interested in privacy, enter a sort of frenzy where they
try to do everything at once and to the maximum. Downloading cubes, switching to graphene,
deleting every account, and locking everything behind multiple layers of encryption passwords,
anonymous accounts, and more, they feel like they have to fix every privacy risk, erase the old data,
and lock everything down overnight. And this is the first place where most people go wrong in their
and privacy journeys.
Studies have found it's much more effective
to make incremental changes and take the time
to turn each change into a habit before adding a new one.
Rather than making a ton of changes overnight,
try to make changes one by one
until they feel like a natural part of your workflow
before introducing the next one.
It also helps to start with the easy changes
to build momentum.
In health, you might set a goal to run three miles
every day.
Rather than going from a sedentary lifestyle
to immediately running three miles,
it's usually best to start by walking
and then running short distances a few times a week
and slowly build up.
In privacy, trying to go from,
I post every thought I have on social media
using my real name to,
data brokers think I'm dead,
is a recipe for frustration at the very least.
Another major key that really trips up most people
is consistency.
Most of us have been in situations
where we've done healthy things
for any number of reasons.
Maybe you missed your flight
and had to walk all the way to another terminal
to catch the new one.
Or maybe your friend offered you some healthy food
that was super delicious.
But just that one time isn't enough.
It takes months of being consistent,
making those small choices every single day
and in time it all compounds and adds up.
So what does this look like in practice?
Well, here's a few concrete, easy things you can do right now
that will make you more private
but require very little effort.
Pick one, implement it into your life,
and then once it becomes a natural part of your workflow,
pick another one and repeat the process.
Switch to a private browser, such as Brave.
Most browsers will automatically import
your existing bookmarks and other data in just a few clicks.
Switch to a privacy respecting search engine
like Brave, DuckDuckGo, or StartPage.
Start using a password manager like Bitwarden,
Proton Pass, or KeyPassXC.
Many password managers have ways to easily import
all your passwords stored in your browser
and then you can start working on changing them
to something more secure later.
Enable multi-factor authentication on all your accounts.
This is free and again, many websites have the option
stay logged in or not ask for MFA again for several weeks,
making it barely an inconvenience in your day-to-day life.
Start using secure communications.
Signal, for example, is popular and user-friendly.
You may already have some friends using it.
You can also switch to an encrypted email provider
like Proton or Tudor.
You can work on updating your various accounts and contacts
to use that email over time later.
Switch to an encrypted cloud provider
like Proton, Tresorit, or Peergos
instead of Google Drive, Dropbox, or iCloud
to store your files.
Consider using a trustworthy VPN like Proton, IVPN, or MULVAD.
Be aware that VPNs are often oversold as a magic bullet
that can fix all your privacy and cybersecurity issues.
And while that's an exaggeration,
they do still have a good use in privacy
and getting started with one
could make for an easy introduction to your privacy journey.
Subscribe to PrivacyGuide's videos.
We put out videos regularly right here on this channel
on a wide range of privacy topics,
including tutorials, news, and more.
An easy way to start improving your privacy
is simply to keep an eye on our content
and keep updated while learning more.
If signing up for new accounts
and downloading new apps sounds like a lot of work right now,
there's also behaviors you can change in your day-to-day life
that will really add up over time.
Try to create suit anonymous accounts
or accounts where you use a fake name, a nickname,
or only your first name instead of your whole name.
You can also try using unique user names on each account
to make it harder for someone to find you
if you don't wanna be found across various platforms.
Be mindful of what you share.
Try to share fewer photos.
Of the photos that you do share,
be mindful what's visible
and wipe the metadata before uploading.
Think about what information can be gleaned
from the posts that you make.
Try to avoid filling out any unnecessary fields
when you do an online form.
Opt out of data collection and AI features.
In many apps and websites these days,
you can find settings to limit
or opt out of some of the data collection,
AI features or AI training.
Take a few moments to check your settings
and find those options.
Delete unused accounts.
If you have any old accounts you no longer use,
be sure to delete them.
Let us know in the comments which change
you're thinking about making first,
or if you're already further along on your privacy journey,
which changes would you recommend first and why?
Remember, consistency is key.
It's not enough to download Signal and then never use it,
or to only change the privacy settings
in one of your accounts.
Try to use encryption as often as possible,
change the default settings right away
every time you make a new account,
use a private search engine every time.
Doing these consistently builds muscle memory
and before you know it, it'll feel weird not to use signal
or to have to give out your actual phone number.
Another thing you can do to help you stay on track
in your privacy journey is to join a community.
Again, studies have shown that people who join a community
based around their health goals,
like a running group or going to a class at the gym,
often reach their goals faster and more consistently
than people who work out alone.
Joining a group of like-minded individuals
all working toward the same goal
helps provide motivation, encouragement,
feedback and accountability.
We have our own community at discuss.privacyguides.net
and we'd love to have you there too.
There you'll find people from all levels of experience,
from newbies to experts who are there to help answer
questions, provide encouragement and more.
Privacy is like broccoli.
You can't improve your health by taking one week a year
to stuff yourself with broccoli and hit the gym for 20 hours
while ignoring your health the rest of the year.
Eating broccoli as part of healthy meals,
exercising regularly and taking care of yourself
you see real improvements. Like healthy habits, it's always consistency and persistence that
will create the biggest impact on your privacy journey. If you found this video helpful,
check out our video Staying Safe Online in 5 Steps for more actionable things that you
can do right now to get started on your privacy journey. Remember, our most up-to-date information
will always be at PrivacyGuides.org. Thanks for watching.
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