I’d already given this kind of information elsewhere, many times, over years. Sometimes I regret it, and try to resolve not to do it anymore, or scrub accounts which feels good but people say it useless, but it always fails. In all honestly I don’t WANT to stop, because it has yielded positive results before, and because I literally don’t see much of a point in doing anything without at least the approximation of an online social life.

Meanwhile I’m taking sentiments like the OP to suggest that ALL online communication is unsafe. If I truly believed that everything was being stored to be used against me, or was secretly attached to my real name, I wouldn’t even give one-word inane responses to anything, much less discuss anything deeper or create anything.

That’s probable. It sort of came on the heels of some general digital privacy re-evaluations (conclusion: everything is fucked forever). That’s what leaves me so overwhelmed though: privacy is literally at odds with meeting people. There’s lots of ways to meet people online, that I want(ed?) to try but now it’s just fear. Being IRL only is also just incredibly limiting - what are the odds you’re going to be able to find people to meet every need or appreciate every side? Casting a wider net online is an option I can’t let go of, if only because it has yielded results in the past, that I’m too confused to worry about now. :/

So…the way I’ve been reading/interpreting this is that those kinds of precautions aren’t enough, because they’re still saved somewhere. That you should act like you’re being monitored even if you take every precaution. Many of the things you listed are the norm for me already. I had a previous post draft where I ran down all my many privacy failures online, several of which are similar behavior on other social media…That’s the real concern here: that such a mentality or realization, taken seriously, cuts off almost every form of online socializing, posting in general, or virtual sources of help if taken seriously. Content creation is right out. And if it’s really the right one, that everyone should follow, that just feels…hopeless and like nothing is remotely safe. Hence this mess.

I’m 1000% behind trying to socialize and get a network IRL. A few issues being 1) how slow that is .2) how limited it is. Online chatting is efficient, effortless – although my own experience is doing less of that, both by choice, and in attempts to be more “private” and just because communities get slow or drop off or there’s no point because people ignore me. Discord is my #1 privacy sin as far as apps go. And even in this paranoia, IRL communication can have issues. What if they won’t use your special private app? What if they want to email? I keep seeing people say that putting someone in your contacts is bad for privacy but it feels wrong to lie to people like that. This, that, and the other, all with this obsessive management of how you’re presented, treating every text or post as a legacy, that I just can’t even comprehend.