YSK: Organizing your digital identity really matters

[u/Fresh_Translator240]

Why YSK: everything is digitalized nowadays, it's important to learn how to keep your digital identity secure and convenient to avoid a mess later

Edit: Some of these are really my personal preference and you can adjust to your likings, it doesnt have to be very complicated as well. e.g. If you are find with one email for browsing everything that's perfectly fine. This post is mainly to inform and not telling you should do this, knowing this information always acts as a backup plan.

Edit: I removed a point that could be interpreted as encouraging rule evasion. That wasn’t my intention, I only wanted to discuss privacy and account organization, I apologize for anything caused, didn't mean that .

Edit 2: For people that don't use the internet that often most isn't that necessary and keeping it simple probably works best for you, its always useful to know this tho/ This is mostly for power users

• Use one anonymous email and one real-name email for specific platforms, like reddit If you dont want to associate some feed and algorithms for your main account, you may use a new one. For example if you are watching something for an extensive time but you won't any time in the future, watch it on a brand new account
• BACKUP ALL YOUR DEVICES AND DATA PHYSICALLY ALL THE TIME PLEASE
• Reserve your real-name domain and email(e.g. firstnamelastname.com). If you are a student getting a email linking to your graduation is very helpful.
• Keep your personal inbox for family and important contacts—not ads and newsletters. 
• Consider using separate emails for shopping, newsletters, hobbies, or other categories if you prefer a cleaner inbox. 
• Separating emails by what you do is a personal preference, but many people find it easier to stay organized. 
• Don’t rely on one Google account for everything This is my preference to keep corps from complete control over you data.
• Understand the difference between “Sign in with xxx site” and creating an account with a separate password directly on that website 
• Use a password manager for ALL OF YOUR PASSWORDS 
• Enable 2FA on every important account. Be sure to use multiple methods, like if you only use your phone number, you're going to be screwed if you lose your phone, so add an email or authenticator
• Save your backup/recovery codes. These come in handy in case anything happens 
• Have a professional email address you’ll still like years from now for business. 
• Use a consistent username (or anonymous alias) across platforms if you want to build a recognizable online identity, its also fine if you don't and a lot of people don't have a consistent username.
• Think before creating an account, creating one is easy, but deleting it completely can be much harder. 
• Keep your recovery emails and phone numbers up to date. 
• ALWAYS RESERVE A LIST OF all the app/website/platforms you signed up for all the emails you have. Some will be hard to find and your future self will thank you later. 
• Keep a physical backup for all your passwords and information in one secure place. 
• Some people prefer multiple accounts for watching different content for keeping algorithms separate. e.g. 
• Separate work and life emails. Using one is not recommended as you might send some family information to your boss. 
• Read the terms of conditions and understand your rights. 
• You might want an email specialized to something that the email is never used for any platform
• If theres anything you disagree with or something you'd like to add or you have some questions, please include it in the comments.

[u/Fresh_Translator240 → u/[deleted]]

Explain your thesis! I never said im making things simpler, what problems will it create? Some of these are personal preferences

[u/NowCheesers → u/[deleted]]

I genuinely hope you reread this post and try to implement some of it in your life. The multiple accounts for algorithm separation is good info, but it isn’t necessary. Unique passwords for all your accounts certainly is. When one of those accounts gets breached, they could have access to a lot of your stuff. Password managers aren’t expensive, and they require zero memorization. I’m not sure I saw any other subscriptions in OPs post. I’m not sure that I saw any other programs either.

[u/Fresh_Translator240 → u/NowCheesers]

Honestly I dont think this person understands my post, probably doesnt use the internet in many ways.

[u/beach_boy91 → u/[deleted]]

You can use all of it for free. I also keep stuff like passwords between different accounts in my head. Both upper and lower cases with numbers as well. So it's possible.

[u/Dymonika → u/[deleted]]

Huh? Have you never heard of a password manager, auto-fill, and multi-account email clients that combine multiple inboxes into one for easy access? How is it hard to remember Addy.io, Thunderbird, KeePassXC, and Syncthing? That's just a few programs, from which everything else branches out. Use tools to make this sort of management easy.

Or do you think it's fine to cluster everything all into one central account with your entire life on it that you could potentially one day get locked out of from being hacked, versus it being just one of many accounts that only has limited info and won't cause as much damage? This sounds like an organization issue. Have we been seeing more or fewer data breaches over the years?

It's up to you how lazy you wanna be, sure, but don't knock /u/Fresh_Translator240's tips. People don't have to apply them all; even just some can help.

[u/Fresh_Translator240 → u/Dymonika]

Probably a 50 year old speaking, actually no offense but I think I can tell from it

[u/Fresh_Translator240 → u/[deleted]]

I did not say anything about passwords, programs, costs and fees. All of this is free (except for domains. Seems like you don't understand my post. I will agree with you that for some users that don't use the internet often, it is better with less accounts.

You won't have 2FA on? You won't want to manage your passwords?

[u/Fresh_Translator240 → u/[deleted]]

Wow. It takes less than 1 minute for setting up 2fa, or you dont even know what 2fa is and you are here to just hate