It Was My Birthday!

Today was the 44th anniversary of my birth; my 44th revolution around the sun. It was rather uneventful, which was nice. I spent it doing what I do most Saturdays– a combination of relaxing and being productive.

The project I took on was something I thought would only take a couple of hours, but it took literally all day long. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for a while, but I bumped it up to high priority after receiving several “sextortion” spam/scam emails listing not one, but two passwords I’ve used regularly on many websites. The fact that they claim to have video of me masturbating while watching porn and will send it to all of my contacts if I don’t give them money doesn’t bother me one bit. Even if such a video did exist, which it doesn’t… *shrug*… I only view porn on my phone and in the dark, so there would be nothing to see! Haha. No, it was the combination of those passwords being sent to me and Facebook’s latest security breach that made me re-prioritize my Saturday (I was going to wash my sheets and winterize the patio).

I didn’t just change passwords, oh no. I decided that if I’m going to do this, I’m going to do it right and de-clutter while I’m at it. I still have a giant pile of unorganized bookmarks, but I’m going to let that one go. I organized my bookmarks toolbar when I was done, and that’s going to have to be good enough. Here’s what I did:

  • Deleted all images from all websites where I sold them printed on products.
  • Closed/deleted all of those accounts.
  • Changed passwords on all of the websites I visit frequently.
  • Changed passwords then disabled/deleted a whole slew of social networking sites.
  • Double-checked security settings on banking sites and email.
  • Updated my security settings on Facebook.
  • Enabled 2-factor authentication on every single website I frequent that offers it– and not SMS– I’m using an app.
  • Cleaned up the bookmarks toolbar in Chrome.
  • Froze my credit reports with Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. I also requested a freeze from Innovis.

I’m now using 2-factor authentication for Gmail, Facebook, Dropbox, Yahoo, DocuSign, Amazon, TeamViewer, and Newegg. I’m OK with the credit freezes because it’s free now, and I’m at a point where I won’t be applying for any new credit for quite some time.

All the Sites I Got Rid Of (disabled/closed/deleted)

  • CafePress
  • Zazzle
  • RedBubble
  • Etsy
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Two extra Facebook accounts
  • Two Google+ accounts
  • MapMyFitness
  • Tumblr
  • Snapchat
  • last.fm
  • OkCupid
  • MyFitnessPal
  • TripAdvisor
  • Redfin
  • Blogspot

What I Kept

  • Flickr (Where my best photos are, but I mostly ignore the social media aspect of the site.)
  • Facebook, but only the website; it’s still uninstalled from my phone (Deleting my account is very tempting, but I’ll stick with once a month for now.)
  • Facebook Messenger (So friends and family can still get a hold of me via phone if they don’t want to text me the old fashioned way.)
  • Goodreads (I ignore the social media aspect of this site as well.)
  • Fitbit (Not much of a time suck, very little social interaction, and I like the data.)
  • Strava (A fitness app for data nerds, not much social interaction goes on here.)
  • LiveJournal (It’s still active, but dormant and there’s nothing to see.)
  • Instagram (Where I am most often now.)

This may have taken all day, but I think it’s going to give me a ton more peace of mind, knowing that there is a lot less of my data on the Internet to steal. Fewer neglected accounts hanging around out there feels good as well.

I’ve been reading a book called Focus and I suppose this is one of the steps to simplifying my life. We got a little too excited about the Internet, then let it take over our lives. I am reading the news and keeping up on what’s going on. I’m just not reading the whole world’s opinions on it now and that is fucking fantastic.

One thing that’s been quite an adjustment is not sharing. Not sharing videos, links, photos, every little thing I do and every thought that goes through my head… it’s all for me now. Doing things for my own enjoyment and not for attention, validation, or approval is… different. I think it’s healthy.