does anyone have any good resources on digital hygiene? I feel like with all the scramble to suddenly be using the internet differently (divest from meta, start new forums/social media) it's got me realizing how scattered and all over the place my data and attention are. it's especially hard on us adhd-types
like resources on consolidating info/scrubbing search engines of your data/organizational tips/good vpns
it's all so much to think about it makes my head spin and then I don't do anything about it.
thoughts?
-A
from Lisa LaRochelle on 2025-01-28
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is a really good resource. Here's their "surveillance self-defense" project, which includes a lot of guides.
https://ssd.eff.org/#index
If that feels like too much at once, maybe this Wired article is more digestible?
https://www.wired.com/story/the-wired-guide-to-protecting-yourself-from-government-surveillance/
And for social media, I think the big recent migration to a better version of something like twitter is to Bluesky, and there's also Mastodon.
There's an Instagram alternative still being built with Bluesky's protocol called Flashes, and I think there's already one based on Mastodon's called Pixelfed.
Signal is good for messaging!
Best to all of you,
Lisa L
from Femi Fleming on 2025-01-29
Hey!
There are definitely some awesome resources for this, from a computer nerd standpoint, I’m all for the resurgence of 90s web, I think everyone should build a website/wiki and be super documentarian about it and list recourses.
Building new social media platforms is hard, building websites is also hard, I think there should be more ways to make this accessible.
Me and a few friends built https://cancelled.work in an attempt to make a webpage that hosts other people’s html, so no one has to pay for domain or hosting. Anyone can create pages on this open source site by ssh-ing into the server and editing the html.
There are some good articles about digital hijene and the comeback of low tech, anti-capitalist internet on
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/
100r has some interesting stuff on their site about permacomputing and the idea of your internet presence lasting beyond the updates and changes of all the different hosting companies.
Also,
https://femishonuga.com/webring.html
Is a link to my webring, a list of local artist sites and resources that are all linked together,
The webring and updating the wiki and the log on my site are how I take my breaks from social media platforms, I like the idea that you can make your own social media platform diy style/plain 1990s html style. HTML is easy and I encourage/ will prob be hosting html workshops for reasons like this.
Oops here’s that link on permacomputing
https://wiki.xxiivv.com/site/permacomputing.html
from Sawyer Sweet on 2025-01-29
My 2¢, having interned in cybersec, w software and political experience.
Assume everything you do on your phone or online is accessible to someone in some way. Do with that what you will.
For ADHD, the book "good habits bad habits" has been amazing.
The short version is willpower is about 5% of why you do things, context and routine are the other 95%. Place and context is super important! The concrete things you can do are look into mindfulness (yes I know eye roll but it's actually a leading medical practice for ADHD.) and then after that set up your environment to help nudge you towards the goals you're trying to have. If you get distracted by something often, move it to a different room. If there's an app you don't like using, delete it. If you want to exercise more often set them next to your bed in the morning.
from EAR on 2025-01-29
loving this thread, thanks all for your input <3 given us a lot of resources to chew over
I'm saying hygiene in a way that includes privacy but then yeah bringing in what sawyer was talking about with context and routine. accounting for the fact that we all use computers and phones for very frivolous things and also the most serious high stakes things.
I feel like what's happening right now is the tech world being like, no yeah we are definitely watching you, be on your best behavior, bow to Palantir, etc. and we're like... ?
I heard a quote the other day that resonated: "to have nothing to hide is to be dead"
I'm trying to make a distinction cause obviously I'm scared like everyone else but the phrase "security culture" has always felt niche and ineffective and I'm trying to conceive of like, a way of thinking about using tech that's more universal. like yeah, it's not secure to use tech, and yet many of us choose to or feel we have to go on using it anyway.
from Sawyer Sweet on 2025-01-29
A big thing people are talking about are AI assistants like Siri and Cortana who are uninstallable on most phones and PCs and are collecting tons of data on what you do on your phone. If you are using a Linux PC or phone there's still a chance that someone can find a way into it. People hypothesize that they are constantly screen recording.
There's a lot of hygiene you can practice, but realistically it's safer to just assume everything is "compromised".
Agreed that silence is death. It's a panopticon and the goal is to make you feel surveilled because the government can handle one or two "bad actors" but not millions. They really don't have the ability to police everyone but they can strike fear and propagandize.
In general, large tech algorithms are controlled by companies and adjusted by governments.
It's a lot healthier to consume things and converse with folks outside of a gigantic surveilled dopamine factory.
There have also been people suggesting that your phone is still recording audio and location data when it's off. Which is probably true imo, but it remains a conspiracy theory because there's 0 accountability required by these companies so we will never know.
from Dailen Williams on 2025-01-29
Tangentially related, but these utilities may prove useful to removing things like Cortana from laptops and android devices.
I haven't experimented with them myself, but happy to report back when I do!
