How to Stay Private Online Without Being Paranoid

Privacy does not mean hiding. It means choosing what to share.

Start with a password manager. Bitwarden is free. Use it for everything. Every password should be unique and random. Your memory is not good enough.

Use two factor authentication everywhere. Not SMS. Use an authenticator app. Or better, a hardware key. It takes minutes to set up and prevents most attacks.

Stop using Google for search. Try DuckDuckGo. It is almost as good and does not track you.

Use a VPN. Not for piracy. For basic privacy. Your ISP should not know what sites you visit. Mullvad is cheap and trustworthy.

Check your privacy settings. Every app you use has them. Spend an hour going through them. Turn off everything that does not need to be on.

Privacy is not all or nothing. Every step helps. Start with one thing today.