Tracking

Tracking Yourself Online

Privacy and Passwords:

Controlling your online information requires discipline and structure.  Information is the tool that can used against you online, so keeping your information profile smaller online reduces your risk.  Discipline can be related to the restraint required when posting online, and it relates to tracking strong AND different passwords for the accounts we create online.  If a hacker gets one of your passwords, they could have access to your personal, professional, and financial worlds with huge consequences, especially if you only use a single password for all accounts (bad practice!).  I probably track over 75 different account logins and passwords and I need to maintain and service the system that I use to track them. 

Posting Online:

I think that it is generally best to avoid online posting, especially if it risks overshadowing the interactions and engagements that you have in real life.  A highly curated and restrained presence online is the best compliment to your physical self, and it is always good to question your motives for posting.  Sometimes even seemingly altruistic motives for posting could be rooted in a need for attention or the dopamine hit of asserting yourself and feeling righteous.  And be careful with opinions, over time you may come to regret statements or they could look bad if taken out of context.  Why take a troll’s bait?  When it comes to what to post, it is probably best to avoid personal details that could be used against you, anything prideful (what need are you filling when you gloat?), or anything attention-seeking.  

There is no Free Lunch

If you want to protect yourself, read the fine print for the software and applications that you use.  If you don’t want to do that, you should be very wary of the siren’s song of free software. If your game or your service is free you are probably paying with your privacy.

Your Phone is your Life

With the advancing technology and power of our mobile devices, more of our lives reside on these small portable devices.  Phones are our wallets, our family photo albums, our biometric trackers and more.  They hold an immense amount of detail and without safeguarding, we stand to suffer violations of our self, whether personal or financial.