Privacy apathy is real – and you probably have it

Navigating the digital landscape these days can be, frankly, a nightmare. It seems that every page you visit asks you to accept cookies, enter personal information or create an account in order to use the site properly.

In addition, data breaches are at an all-time high, with stories of people’s personal data being leaked every day

Given the sheer amount of digital noise we have to deal with every day, it’s no surprise that people feel overwhelmed by it all. With this exhaustion comes risky cybersecurity behavior and even potentially dangerous cyber situations—despite the fact that we’re constantly encouraged to use privacy software like the best VPNs.

There is only one way this can be described, and that is with the phrase “Privacy Apathy”. Read on to learn more about what privacy apathy is, why it’s so dangerous, and what steps you can take to combat privacy apathy in your everyday life.

What is privacy apathy?

Privacy apathy is exactly what it sounds like – being so exhausted and fed up with the various procedures you have to go through to exist online that you simply become apathetic about your own online privacy.

Privacy apathy can manifest itself in a number of ways, including:

Reuse passwords for multiple accounts
Accepting cookies instead of rejecting them
Entering your personal information on the Sites
Don’t care if your data is exposed in data breaches

It’s important to note that what I describe as “privacy apathy” isn’t just a lack of education or a misunderstanding of how to stay safe online, it’s knowing what can keep you safe but choosing not to you do as it is, of course. , much easier.

Plus, given the scale of data breaches these days, it’s no wonder people see their data being leaked as a “when not if” situation. In 2023, data breaches increased by 35%, with Over 17 billion personal records leaked during the year.

One of the clearest examples of this comes from the password manager The LastPass “Psychology of Passwords” report.which found that despite 89% of respondents acknowledging that reusing passwords or using variations of the same password is risky behavior, only 12% of respondents used unique passwords for all their accounts and 62% admitted to reusing and/or or use variations of the same password on all their accounts.

Other research by Forbes Advisor showed that over a third (35%) of people admit they think they’ve been hacked because of a weak password, and one in three people say they think they’ve been hacked because of repeated use of the same password.

Over, Everything about cookies has been found that 38% of Americans “blindly accept all” cookies, despite the fact that more than one in four (27%) know that websites cannot store and sell information about users if they reject cookies.

One thing is clear; despite knowing what to do to stay safe, we just don’t do it.

A frustrated looking black woman using a laptop

(Image credit: Getty Images)

How can I combat privacy apathy?

A major driver of privacy apathy is simply that it’s easier to reuse passwords, accept all cookies, ignore alerts to change your password, and so on.

So how do you combat this? Simple. Make it easy to use your cybersecurity option and stay safe.

Use a password manager

If you’re guilty of reusing passwords, and you probably are, then the only way to stop it is to make creating a new password easier than reusing an old one.

Get one of the the best password managers which will not only save all passwords for you, but generate unique and secure passwords for each of your accounts.

You won’t struggle to remember or find passwords, and you’ll eliminate the chance of more than one of your accounts being compromised if one of your passwords is leaked.

Reduce digital noise

Accepting all cookies can be much easier than rejecting all, especially if you have to manually uncheck third parties in the “legitimate interest” section. However, this allows companies to track you and your data.

To reduce the appeal of the “Accept all” button, simply reduce this digital noise with a cookie and ad blocker.

VPNs like NordVPN has additional features that can automatically block cookies on websites so you won’t even have to consider them. Another great VPN, Surfsharkhas a feature called CleanWeb which blocks all ads and cookie consent pop-ups, as well as warns you about malware and data breaches.

It is important to note that cookies are used for personalization, tracking and marketing, so if you block/reject all cookies, your experience on certain websites may be affected.

Look at the data

While data breaches seem inevitable, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to protect your personal data. One way to recognize the seriousness of this situation is to actually look at how much of your personal data is available online.

HaveIBeenPwned.com is a handy checker that lets you check if your email address or phone number has been compromised in a data breach. This will give you an idea of what you need to protect yourself better to prevent your accounts from being hacked.

If you’re concerned about the amount of personal data that legitimate companies have on you that could be leaked in a data breach, consider using a data removal service. Data removal services contact the companies that hold your data on your behalf and ask them to delete it.

If nothing else, remember this – if your email address or phone number has been leaked, you may see an increase in annoying scam or spam messages, and nobody wants that.