Minimizing Digital Footprints in the Age of Ambient Awareness
Engraving of an wyvern-type ouroboros by Lucas Jennis, in the 1625 alchemical tract De Lapide Philosophico. The figure serves as a symbol for mercury.
If you could use one word to describe the state of social media, what would it be? Mine is ouroboros. Like the ancient Gnostic symbol of a serpent eating its own tail, the collective internet is feeding on its own regeneration, caught in an endless loop of creation and destruction. It all comes back to itself, and what Plutarch wrote in the second century could still hold water about life in 2023, “the deceived is wiser than one not deceived.” We’ve peeked behind the curtains, and we’re not surprised to see what’s behind it: we know everything is fake, and yet also believe it’s real. How do we possibly protect ourselves from it all: not just the constant threat of our data being stolen, but from the subtle, potent dangers that are less often discussed.
Online, we are free from the limitations of our corporal selves. We are pixels, captions, metadata, spectators and creators. How can we walk the line between sharing our experiences and minimizing our digital footprint? Is it possible to seek connection, share your talents, and find your people without compromising your personal details and psychological safety? It’s less a question than a challenge, and it’s something that you can control only up to a point. The best way to win this particular game is to not play it at all, but at this point we’re all living vicariously through our digital alter egos, so let’s consider applying a few OSINT principles.
Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) is a vast and increasingly critical field of study that can mean everything from the seemingly innocuous to more…clandestine reconnaissance. Picture this: a Portuguese man o' war floating serenely in turquoise waters. Many people think: jellyfish. Their first impression of Open Source Intelligence is similar: what appears to be a single thing is a complex network of many smaller units. And in a world where a terrifying amount of people are unable to distinguish between information and facts, tapping into the process of intelligence gathering can help sharpen your own awareness both on and offline. Why wait until a potential threat is active? Neutralize it by stalking yourself and, based on what you find, adjust your settings accordingly.
What are some things you can do right now to perform a digital wellness check? Utilize social surveillance on your own pages—go ahead, stalk yourself. What comes up? Take the bold step of locking down your socials. 2FA is your friend. Change your password every season (#SpringSummerWinterFall!) Don’t leave your bluetooth on and running. Backup what you really care about and back the backups for what you truly love. No checking in—you don’t need to geotag that collagen mocktail. Privacy is not a default setting, so if obfuscation is your end goal you’re in luck because being mysterious on the internet is very in for 2023. Run your deets through this site to check if you’ve been involved in lesser known breaches. Practice good password management hygiene—I like bitwarden—and, sweet LORDT, don’t use your birthday/childhood best friend/street name in any of your passwords. Update your phone’s software for enhanced security/patches. No! Free! Public! WiFi! Bookmark crypto party for more tools to protect yourself (not an ad, it’s just a great resource).
Another unglamorous but important tip is going through your followers with a fine tooth comb. Approaching it like cleaning out your fridge helps—if it seems off, it probably is.
Going from public to private and limiting story views to close friends seems easy enough, but shrinking your audience can have negative implications for your stats/wallet/clout. At some point, you have to ask yourself what you want out of “this.” Then, craft a plan from there. Going private on a personal account is a good start; I like to think of it as closing my curtains at night. I know, I know: risk aversion isn’t exactly sexy. Risk-awareness seems like a good compromise. Whatever your style is, you can still photo dump/hyper-carefully curate/thirst trap responsibly. In the age of ambient awareness, optimistic bias can be dangerous: 1 out of every 12 women will or have been stalked at some point in their lives. Bad things happen to good people with alarming frequency—how to balance the desire for digital connection while limiting exposure to danger?
We expose our souls online, our moods, outfits, heartache, recipes, hopes and fantasies all subject to constant consumption. Some of us even make money doing it, so it's understandable that the word ‘security’ sounds unappealing, complicated. As a content creator myself, I understand the lure of the influencer economy forever shimmering in the distance—a Turrell-tinted Oz that beckons with sponsored posts and brand ambassadorships. The writer Jia Tolentino put it best in her 2019 essay, The Age of the Instagram Face, how “social media has supercharged the propensity to regard one’s personal identity as a potential source of profit.”
While being vulnerable—and authentic—online is critical in this age of McContent (quick, empty and forgettable) for native advertising, separating the wheat from the facetuned chaff is challenging for those trying to ethically monetize their content. Keep in mind that social media ad revenue in 2020 was $41.5 billion, making up nearly 30% of all internet ad revenue.
The Fates Gathering in the Stars, Elihu Vedder. 1919.
Authenticity on the internet or a carefully curated digital strategy? Does it even matter anymore as our ice melts, our water dries, our crops struggle? At the heart of it, maybe we just want to feel seen.
We use logins to prove our identity and we post content to validate it. Vera Chytilová’s kaleidoscopic film Daisies, shot in 1966 just before the Prague Spring, included a scene that distilled the essence of our collective relationship with social media. Two twenty-something girls are lounging in a giant bathtub, quasi-philosophically musing on the nature of life. How do you know you exist, she asks. Her friend responds with absolute certainty: because of you!
Social media is a giant mirror we see ourselves through, and in this virtual looking glass our idealized digital identities are reflected back to us. These platforms serve as a sort of conduit that filters us into something with softer edges and sharper features. It’s not exactly how we look in real life—reality is too complicated, with all of its angles and variations—but it’s good enough.
Can you protect your identity while monetizing it? Yes. Does more content mean more exposure? Also yes. The air of mystery may just do wonders for your digital alter ego. Locking down your socials while you do recon on yourself isn’t forever; once you feel ready, you can always open your life back up to the world. Approaching digital safety like any other sensible precaution helps streamline it as habitual. Thoughtless, even. Wearing a seatbelt while driving, sunscreen during the day, closing your blinds at night. Ensuring your content—if you desire—is only accessible to people you trust. Yes, you may sacrifice follower count, but it’s a fair exchange for peace of mind (and increased engagement.) Digital safety isn’t binary—you can take every precaution and something bad could still happen. What you can do, however, is not leave your own well-being up to fate. When it comes to protecting your content and the spaces you occupy, both in your head and on your screen, you have the ability to control at least this part of your own destiny.
Mischa Downing is a writer and artist who recently completed a Post-Baccalaureate in Cybersecurity from Columbia University. She is interested in the intersection of data privacy and mental health, as well as post-Roe digital safety.