Let's take back (some) control of your digital privacy

Your digital privacy matters

The problem with our online privacy is not that it's a bit creepy when big tech snoops and sees everything (EVERYthing) we are doing on the internet and all the data we send through their apps (including every person you talk to and for how long and what your likes and dislikes are etc etc.), but that they literally use this information to alter our behaviour (mind-control!) in the form of attention-mining and advertising for the sake of their profits.

"But I don't mind targeted advertising, I'm smart enough to know buy what I want and not get taken for a ride" I hear you say. Well, the problem is you have a pretty primal piece of hardware sitting up there between your ears, and you're literally up against teams of psychologist/statistics/machine learning PhDs with a hoard of supercomputers to compel you to stay glued to your screen, on their app, and possibly buying something that has been intricately and intimately marketed to you.

It doesn't have to be this way though! There are tools to limit how much time you spend on social media and in front of screens generally. Your data you generate is also a constant stream, flowing by and so by limiting how much data you unknowingly hand over to them by voting with your technological feet!

At the very least, be very careful of linking your mobile number with your social media accounts, and be careful of using social media through apps instead of through a laptop/desktop (mobile phones are a treasure trove for big tech to harvest data from us). Personally I have tried to move away from Google, Facebook and Twitter - have a look at privacytools.io for some tools if you would like to do the same.