Photographs and check-ins from just about everyone. Celebrities packing on the PDA. Hyper-confessional TikTok GRWMs (“Get Ready With Me,” for the uninitiated). It seems like digital self-disclosure is decidedly a thing of the past; TMI, or too much information, is the order of the day.
This was about what we consume. Now let’s talk about the digital footprints we unknowingly leave behind. You’d be surprised at how constantly you share, or rather, overshare information on the internet — often without even realizing it. Whether you’re updating your social media accounts, filling out visa forms, or shopping for something as banal as groceries online, all this collectively forms your digital footprint. Even something as simple as accepting cookie policies by clicking on “I agree” forms part of the data you’ve shared online.
With the internet and digital connectivity shaping practically everything currently, the boundary between what’s private and what can be made public could become blurred. Where does one draw the line and what are the dangers threatening the digital soul?
The Online – and Offline – Dangers Of Oversharing
Oversharing occurs when one shares or reveals too much personal information, such as details about your name, relationships, locations, opinions, and even daily routines, all of which can be misused and exploited by cybercriminals.
For instance, parents posting cute pictures of their kids is nothing new today, but there are many potential dangers to that. These seemingly innocuous acts by parents can put their kids’ personal data and future privacy at risk by making them vulnerable to harassment. Plus, there’s a thriving black market for personally identifiable information out there.
So, when you combine all data with the kids’ names, addresses, dates of birth, etc., they make good targets for identity theft. When the kids grow older, it might undercut their ability to tell their own stories. And there are always the offline dangers of kids being followed from homes, schools, coaching classes, and the like.
The dangers are vastly multiplied when it comes to adults. Sharing boarding passes not only allows hackers to farm your information but also alerts you that your home is unoccupied. Posting personal milestones on LinkedIn or personal life stories on Facebook? It could provide hackers with clues to your personal security questions.
When you’re on a bike ride or a run, posting information about the path you use points to your location. Did you ever think that the encounter with the person who unexpectedly “bumped into you” for that after-conference drink could have been designed from data extricated from your social media post or update? It’s called social engineering, and it’s a serious business. With big tech being able to decode our digital breadcrumbs, it poses serious risks to our professional careers, relationships, and even our physical safety.
Tidying Up Your Digital Footprint
As we’ve outlined in the instances above, oversharing isn’t limited to what you post. It also includes the information your devices and apps share. One of the first things to do is to disable location tracking for apps that don’t require it, especially on social media platforms. This helps reduce the risk of exposing your daily whereabouts, routines, and patterns.
It’s best to avoid uploading pictures with easily identifiable details, such as landmarks and street names near your home, or tagging specific locations in posts. Be extremely cautious with metadata, as videos and photos reveal not just the date and time but also the location. Scrubbing it off your files is a good way to protect your location and habits.
Photographs show you much more than what you see at first glance. Seemingly harmless images like a selfie by the poolside could capture others in bathing. Are you holding a blank envelope in one photo for fun? It can be digitally altered. Or, an image could even inadvertently expose sensitive information, such as visible addresses, documents, or even QR codes in the background. So, one needs to first review pictures always prior to posting them to ensure that they don’t reveal more information or data than intended.
When it comes to factors that you can control, close down and delete accounts that are no longer in use, opt out of data broker sites, and regularly review and update your privacy settings on social media and other platforms. Using strong passwords is a critical part of the process for protection against cyberattacks, unauthorized access, and data breaches. Finally, enabling multi-factor authentication is significant as it adds an additional layer of security to your accounts.
Can we share safely – ever?
Get this: social media is convenience but at a cost. You need to keep in mind the permanence of online content. Even private posts can be retrieved, screenshotted, and shared long after they have been deleted or aren’t even relevant while being taken out of context and misinterpreted. Clearing up your digital footprint, reviewing it regularly, keeping track of what information you’re sharing online, in whatever form it might be, and staying thoroughly vigilant is the need of the hour.
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