Digital Hygiene
I feel like we may have all done our fair share of searching up our names for fun, never did I think that I would be doing this for an assignment. As I was googling my name, I tried it with my partial first name which is my preferred name which is just Sabrey. I didn’t see much, gladly. I just found something that left me slightly uneasy which is connections with some of my family members, or people who I just share the same last name with (which isn’t too common). With my first name being so uncommon, it was interesting to see what I would find and of course it was exactly me. What was unsettling was that the information was distant uncles or aunts being connected to me or even my address, it wasn’t to my exact name, but it was potential that could live in a household. While looking up my full first name, “Sabrey Ellyce”, I just found some academic related information, which makes sense because this is more of my legal name compared to what I regularly use, like social media. I’ve never used DuckDuckGo before, for this being my first time I also still didn’t really find anything which is comforting. None of the results were really alarming to me, which was nice to know. I would say for my social media settings, I was already aware of what was visible or what could be seen or what couldn’t be. So, looking through that wasn’t too alarmed.
I’ve had bad experiences before with passwords, as embarrassing as it is to admit I was completely guilty of keeping most of my passwords the same. I had my Instagram hacked in 2020, and ever since then I was extremely nervous and cautious of my passwords. I don’t keep any of them the same and I make sure that it is pretty complicated as it could be, but enough for me to at least remember some things. When I tested some of my passwords , it was extremely comforting to know that they are pretty strong and I was glad to overall find some comfort while doing some of these forms of “research” on myself.
I overall learned a lot about myself, what I sort of look like in the public eye, and where I land in terms of being “hacked” again or even being susceptible to it again. There wasn’t much or anything that I really had to change while doing this exercise and I found myself basically just being more aware of what to look at in order to enhance my safety and to look out for myself.
We are responsible for our own actions and that does affect our safety, or privacy even. Exposing yourself to the internet or social media does come with risks, but with that does come some better understanding and knowledge. In order to exercise and enhance our safety for ourselves, we must stay vigilant with stuff like that. In terms of the media and these companies that harbor our information also comes a risk and shouldn’t really cause any exposure or any types of harm. But of course, that is not always the case. I do have an understanding that we are under surveillance most of the time and that comes with more of having any type of technology, not just social media. That is also a form of privacy that is more stretched or found a loophole around it, it is interesting to find myself talking about something random and for me to get an ad about it on something like Instagram right after I google it or talk about it, is unsettling to think about, but I do know that it unfortunately is a part of the system.
