A survey by VPN service provider NordVPN asked people what they would like to delete from the Internet forever, to which over a third of them (32%) answered that they would like to see Internet trolls disappear alongside information users previously shared Online (30%) (such as contact information, intimate messages, photos, & Twitter & Facebook posts). Interestingly, every tenth respondent wanted to see social media gone in general.
“The survey showed that people want to see a more friendly and safe internet with no cyberbullying coming from trolls and more control over their own information. And with 2022 already here, I think we all should include ‘more internet privacy’ in our resolutions list,” says Daniel Markuson, a digital privacy expert at NordVPN.
People also wanted to see gone from the Internet things someone else had posted about the respondent (6.5%), their children’s or family member’s information (4.7%), & streaming platforms (1.9%).
New year: new Online habits
“New year – new Internet” sounds nice, but it is a very unlikely scenario. So I would propose thinking of new online habits all of us could acquire this year to make the internet a safer place,” says Daniel.
- Don’t overshare on social media. In 2022, start thinking more critically about what you post Online & go through your privacy setting to make sure no bad actors can stalk you.
- Don’t feed the trolls. Internet trolls post provocative comments to annoy people, to start arguments, or just to express hate. The best strategy to fight trolls is to ignore their comments & not become involved in meaningless arguments.
- Use encrypted messaging apps. Since messages hide the darkest secrets of our lives, it’s best to mitigate the risk of somebody intercepting them. Choose messaging apps with end-to-end encryption so the contents of your conversations remain private.
- Avoid giving out your personal information. Various services & Websites ask us for personal data, & most of us share it. However, we can’t be certain how this sensitive information will be stored. Create a separate email for Online registrations & share as little data as possible.
- Use a VPN. A virtual private network redirects your Internet data through an encrypted tunnel & hides your IP address, thus improving your Online privacy & security.
