Privacy Settings Check Up!
January is Stalking Awareness and Prevention Month. With cyberstalking on the rise, one of the best and simplest things we can do to protect our digital privacy is to check up on our privacy settings. These can sometimes change if your phone or an app is updated, so it’s a good idea to go in every once in a while, and make sure settings are the way you want them to be.
Location:
Check your location settings on your phone, including who can see your location and when, and on different apps with map features such as Instagram and Snapchat. Also, what profiles list where you live and is that information public or private? What about where you work? What locations have you been tagged in and who can see the tags? Remember, you can remove tags from posts! Lastly, check to see if any pictures or posts have accidentally given too much information about where you live. For instance, is there a picture of you and your friends with your dorm number in the background? You may want to double check who that is visible to, if you want it posted at all.
Pictures:
Instagram and Facebook (am I showing my age by giving advice about Facebook or are students still using that? I digress.) both give you the option to approve or decline pictures you have been tagged in from appearing on your page. This is a great setting to have turned on so that you have more control over what images reflect you on social media. It is also beneficial to talk to your friends and ask them not to post photos of you without your permission or approval.
Information:
Where are your phone numbers and email addresses available to view and do you want them there? You can find out a lot of information on someone by looking up their phone number, so keeping your phone number private may be beneficial to your privacy and digital boundaries. If you have a job where a phone number to reach you needs to be publicly available, can you have it be your office number or a phone number that is not connected to your personal phone, but rather an app such as Teams? Also, be mindful about what you post about where you’ll be and when. For instance, posting about a party while you are at that party could give bad actors an opportunity to take advantage of that information. Post when you get home! It is also important to not give out people’s information, including their phone number or social media handles, without their consent.
Friends:
What better time than the New Year to do a friends list clean up! Do you want all the people on your friends and followers list to see everything you post? Remember, you can set certain posts/stories to only be viewable to certain people, such as the “close friends” list on Instagram Stories.
Conclusion:
Overall, it is your decision what to make public or private on social media, and checking and adjusting privacy settings is one way to help you stay in control of your digital and in person experiences. Not everyone who looks at our pages has good intentions, and sometimes you just want to share something with a select group of people! It is as important that you set boundaries as it is that you respect other people’s boundaries, and hopefully this blog gives you some tangible ways to do just that. Here’s to a safe and happy New Year!
