Girl's guide 2.0

How to protect your digital footprint

Hello everyone! For those who don't know me yet, I'm Rylee. Today I'm back again with yet another post inspired by events that I have been going through lately. I wanted to share some of the things I've been learning with you guys here on Girls Guide. Some of you may need this post right now for all I know. I hope you enjoy this post as you continue reading and this post was able to help you.

I have been dealing with a stalker and harasser for around over two years at this point. While I won't go into too much detail over that right now, I did think it would be a good idea to write a post on internet safety and steps you can take to better take care of your digital footprint when it comes to being online.

We all use the internet every day for something. While the internet at times can be super helpful for us, it can also, unfortunately, be really dangerous as well and come along with dangerous people you need to be aware of. Not everyone on the internet you can trust and have your best interest in mind. With that being said you need to know of ways to decrease the amount of information that can be found online about yourself.

In this post we will be going over steps you can take to do just that.

Don't give out your real name online. It's best to use an alias online, even if your name is a common one people can still find you based on your first name alone.

Don't give out your exact age online. If someone asked you about your age, it's best to give out your age range.

Use different usernames and passwords across all social media platforms. Be careful on who you give your socials to, especially if you are using a personal account. Don't just give out your socials to anybody now.

Don't give out personal information about yourself, family, friends, or the surroundings around you. (This includes pictures, phone number, state, etc.)

Don't accept friend requests, answer messages, or click on links that've been sent to you. These can be used to hack and gather information on you. Copy the link and paste it in a search engine if you are afraid it might be a dangerous link to see if it's valid.

Be careful if someone seems too friendly, not everyone online has your best interest in mind as I've stated before. This includes any help, buying gifts, etc. This can be used to manipulate you and make you feel like you owe them something back later.

Use a vpn to help protect yourself and your socials. This makes it harder for anyone to track you or try and hack into your accounts. (especially when using an public wifi like Walmart or something)

When making passwords use strong passwords. When making a new account on a site follow the site's guide on how to create a strong password. Use words, numbers, letters, and symbols. Replace letters in words with numbers that look like a letter.

Use an authenticator app to better protect your accounts as well as add your email and a phone number.

Delete old accounts you don't use anymore, if you lost the email or password to an account contact the site in trying to get it taken down. (You might have to go through a process of proving you're the owner though. What a pain in the butt. lol)

Anyways, these are all the tips I have for you guys today on taking care of your digital footprint. If I'm able to, I will try and make a part 2 for you guys and upload it here for you later. I hope you all enjoy reading this post and that this helps one of you who's reading this.

Until next time, stay safe everyone. I love you guys. Bye!