The internet is a terrific thing, but do you ever feel too consumed by it? Are you worried about how much private information you have shared on the internet, and are looking for ways to remove said information? The good news is that deleting yourself from the internet is possible. It just requires a little bit of work. Lucky for you though, TechVise has taken the time to compile this list of things you need to do to delete yourself from the internet.
STEP ONE – GOODBYE SOCIAL MEDIA
We will start with the obvious. If you want to delete yourself from the internet, you have to take down your social media sites. Social media includes sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google +, MySpace, Flipboard, and any other site where you share personal information with a large group of users. Typically deleting these accounts is quick and easy. One merely has to head into the settings (usually under Security or Privacy) and they should see an option to suspend or delete their account.
Deleting yourself from social media is quick and easy, but it is by no means the end of deleting yourself from the internet.
STEP TWO – SO LONG EMAIL AND ONLINE SHOPPING
So long as you have an email account, websites can collect information from it. If that is something that bothers you, it may be time to cut out this service. It will take a while adjusting at first, especially considering how much the world revolves around it. If it isn’t important to you, though, it should be easy to make the jump.
You will als0 need to get rid of your online shopping accounts, such as Amazon. Whenever you shop under these accounts, Amazon and other data collection services monitor your purchases so that they can recommend more products to you or fill your inbox with spam and junk mail.
By deleting these two services, you are effectively getting rid of two of the biggest information gatherers next to social media.
STEP THREE – REMEMBER WHEN YOU USED TO BLOG? WELL THE INTERNET DOES.
Removing blog posts is probably one of the most difficult things to have removed, especially if you are not the domain owner. Under the terms and conditions of many blog sites (such as WordPress), it states that there is no way to delete your account or posts. However, it is possible to take down. It may require a few lengthy phone calls and some extensive paperwork, but most sites will at least work with you a little. It is merely a process.
STEP FOUR – REMOVE YOURSELF FROM DATA COLLECTION SERVICES
This one is by far the trickiest because it is the one people know the least about. Whenever you do anything on the web, even a simple keyword search, that information is collected and stored by an online data collection service. Most of the time these services are monitoring demographics and compiling statistics, but others are trying to generate possible sale leads. If this is something you don’t want, you can go onto those sites and manually request them to remove your information. If that is too much work for you, try using the service DeleteMe. The cost is a bit steep at $129 per year, but the service will continually scan these services and remove your information. It’s costly, but it is well worth the benefit.
SOME THINGS TO REMEMBER
Just remember that it is a process to delete yourself from the internet. Services like DeleteMe make the more difficult aspects easy for a price. There is also a website called JustDeleteMe that has a web directory filled with sites that gather private information. Also remember that you won’t ever entirely delete yourself from the internet. It is a constant effort that requires diligence and maintenance. But at least now you know the fastest ways to get it done.