Perspective around digital security

I’d like to share my experience on digital security. Last December I bought Redmi Note 11 with 6 GB RAM and 128 GB memory. It has been long discussion with myself of whether or not get second phone. I decided to try it. If it’s not working, I can sell it.

It’s a long discussion because I don’t want to add more carbon footprint. However, it’s become easier to get distracted with many e-commerce, mobile banking, and social media apps I have. Through the years, I notice my digital behavior has changed. There’s a invisible pressure to keep up and use certain trending or secure apps. In some occasions I also pressured my parents to keep up with me. My mother was reluctant but she also gave up.

So, you call this an experimentation with myself. With different perspective I had, I applied security measures. I had to spend around 6 hours to setup the new phone. There are many default apps that work in the background to collect my data. So, I turn off many permissions, background apps, and access to wifi. I seriously consider this tool as my partner and intend to know it much more before going to deeper relationship.

I do not activate “find my device” because it requires a Xiaomi account that even Google consider it unsafe and it has no “HTTPS”. I also turned on “focus mode” in certain hours to help me concentrate and have better rest at night. I turn off Chrome and change to Firefox, then edit their setting by making HTTPS-only mode, enhanced tracking protection, delete browsing data on quit, etc.

It’s quite a work to scrutinize the apps and make well-informed decision on what apps to install, question myself why I need it, how much I will use it, how much resource and tracking it takes, etc. It’s like taking the control back and slowly change my digital behavior regarding wellbeing and security. That’s all I want to share for now.