Navigating the digital landscape nowadays can, quite frankly, be a nightmare. It seems like every page you go on requires you to accept cookies, enter personal information or create an account in order to use the site properly.
On top of this, data breaches are at an all–time high, with tales of people's personal data being leaked every single day
With the sheer amount of digital noise we have to contend with every day, it's hardly surprising that people are feeling burned out by it all. With this burn out comes risky cybersecurity behavior and even potentially dangerous cyber situations – despite the fact we're constantly encouraged to use privacy software like the best VPNs.
There's only one way this can be described, and that's with the phrase "Privacy Apathy". Read on to find out in more detail what Privacy Apathy is, why it's so dangerous and what steps you can take to combat Privacy Apathy in your day-to-day life.
What is Privacy Apathy?
Privacy Apathy is exactly what it sounds like – being so burned out and fed up with the various procedures you have to carry out to exist online that you simply become apathetic to your own online privacy.
Privacy Apathy can manifest in a number of different ways, including:
- Reusing passwords for multiple accounts
- Accepting cookies instead of rejecting them
- Inputting your personal information to sites
- Not caring if your data is exposed in data breaches
It's important to note that what I'm describing as "Privacy Apathy" isn't just a lack of education or misunderstanding of how to stay safe online, it's knowing what can keep you safe but choosing not to do it as it is, admittedly, much easier.
Plus, with the sheer extent of data breaches these days, it's no wonder people are seeing their data being leaked as a "when not if" situation. In 2023, data breaches rose by 35%, with over 17 billion personal records leaked during the year.
One of the clearest examples of this comes from password manager LastPass' Psychology of Passwords report, which found that despite 89% of people surveyed acknowledging that reusing passwords or using variations of the same password is risky behavior, only 12% of respondents used unique passwords for all their accounts, and 62% admitted to reusing and/or using variations of the same password across their accounts.
Other research by Forbes Advisor has shown that over a third (35%) of people admit that they think they were hacked due to a weak password, and one in three people say they think they were hacked due to repeatedly using the same password.
On top of this, All About Cookies has found that 38% of Americans blindly "accept all" cookies, despite over one in four (27%) knowing that sites cannot store and sell user info if they reject cookies.
One thing is clear; despite knowing what to do to stay safe, we simply aren't doing it.
How can I combat Privacy Apathy?
One major factor of Privacy Apathy is simply that it's easier to reuse passwords, accept all cookies, ignore alerts to change your password, and so on.
So, how do you combat this? Simple. You make it easier to take the cyber-secure option and keep yourself safe.
Use a password manager
If you're guilty of reusing passwords, and chances are you probably are, then the only way to stop this is to make creating a new password easier than just reusing an old one.
Get yourself one of the best password managers that will not only save all your passwords for you, but will generate unique, secure passwords for each of your accounts.
You won't be struggling to remember or come up with passwords, and you'll remove the chance of several of your accounts being compromised if one of your passwords is leaked.
Reduce digital noise
Accepting all cookies can be much easier than rejecting all, especially if you have to manually untick third parties in the "legitimate interest" section. However, this allows companies to track you and your data.
To reduce the allure of the "accept all" button, simply turn down this digital noise with a cookie and ad blocker.
VPNs like NordVPN has extra features that can block cookies on websites automatically so you won't even have to consider them. Another great VPN, Surfshark, has a feature called CleanWeb which blocks all ads and cookie consent pop-ups as well as alerting you to malware and data breaches.
It's important to note that cookies are used for personalization, tracking and marketing, so if you block/reject all cookies your experience on certain websites may be impacted by this.
Look at the data
While data breaches seem inevitable, that doesn't mean you shouldn't try and protect your personal data regardless. One way to recognise the gravity of this situation is to actually look at how much of your personal data is available online.
HaveIBeenPwned.com is a handy checker that allows you to check if your email address or phone number has been compromised in a data breach. This will give you an idea of what you need to better protect to prevent your accounts from being hacked.
If you're concerned about the amount of personal data that legitimate companies have from you that could potentially be leaked in a data breach, consider using a data removal service. Data removal services contact companies that have your data on your behalf and get them to delete it.
If nothing else, remember this – if your email address or phone number has been leaked, you're likely to see an increase in annoying scam or spam messages, and no one wants that.
