The Challenge of Reducing Your Digital Footprint

Summary: While doing my typical morning surf through Twitter one day this week I came across an interesting topic. It seems that a MySpace-like social media site that started sometime last year is gaining in popularity. Like MySpace, part of the site’s attractiveness is the ability to insert your own HTML code, apply themes, and give your profile a unique look. The name of the site is <a href="https://spacehey.com/">SpaceHey.com</a> and yes, I’ve already created a bare-bones profile that looks horrid because the last thing I have time to mess with is yet another social media site. I know I’m not alone in having an account on just about every social media site available. I have, so far, managed to avoid <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/en/">TikTok</a>, because I’m not 14, but I have a presence just about everywhere else. Why? Do I really have some psychological narcissism that pushes me to connect with people on all these platforms? Maybe, but the more likely answer is that we want to be there, wherever there is, when something finally replaces <a href="https://www.facebook.com/">Facebook</a>. We all know it’s coming. The nature of social media demands a limited shelf life for any online software. But we’ve also seen some spectacular failures as well. Remember Google+? With all its parent company’s money and marketing power, one might have thought the site was destined for greatness. Certainly, the Google+ team was convinced they were going to take over the world. That didn’t happen, though, and we’ve watched as plenty of other sites popped up only to never gain enough users and cross-platform hype to make the cut. Assuming that you, like me, have a deep digital connection is probably a safe direction for me to travel, given that you almost certainly wouldn’t be listening or reading this right now if you didn’t have an online presence of some kind. We talked last week about your <a href="https://www.oldmantalking.xyz/updating-the-personal-terms-of-service-for-your-life/">personal Terms of Service</a>, and how you need to develop a contract that protects you and sets expectations both online and in real life. The heavy-touted <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/30/metaverse-may-be-coming-dont-expect-it-mark-zuckerberg/">metaverse’s encroachment seems inevitable</a> at this point, despite there being some <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-59154520">misgivings as to what the dangers might be</a>. Is living more of our lives online and in digital spaces a good thing, or do we risk surrendering every aspect of our humanity? For a growing number of people, the better option is to <a href="https://www.rd.com/list/opt-out-everything/">opt-out of all of it</a>, social media, gaming, avatars, websites, everything. This digital environment that has developed over the past 30 years has taken a toll, mentally, emotionally, and physically, across every aspect of our lives. And while there have been some good things that come of this digital world, such as food delivery during a pandemic, or being able to talk to your doctor online, there are a lot of negatives as well. Every day there’s another story about <a href="https://fortune.com/2021/10/06/data-breach-2021-2020-total-hacks/">personal data breaches affecting millions of people</a>. <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/ukrainian-arrested-and-charged-ransomware-attack-kaseya">Ransomware attacks</a> have taken down some of the biggest corporations on the planet. Hateful attitudes, unchecked misinformation, and lies, trolls challenging and mocking everything you say, all adds up to a situation where none of us can say we’re all that happy with what we’re experiencing online. Should we abandon everything that’s good and eliminate our digital presence completely?

The Challenge of Reducing Your Digital Footprint

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