Who tracks you online – and can you stop them?

Who tracks you – Living in a connected world sucks sometimes. By browsing the Internet we are exposed to thousands of the unseen and unknown tracking technologies connecting you and your browser data to companies across the globe. What do they do this for? Well, they can customize how they target you with ads and communications, they can analyze your browsing behavior, and integrate their own third-party web browser technology. These trackers generally slow down page load times as they transmit and download data, increase clutter on websites with ads and pop-ups, and often put your information at risk as they share your browsing behavior with other companies.

This is happening hundreds of times a week, thousands of times a month on all your devices. There are many third-party companies which will allow you to block most tracking software. Take a moment if you haven’t done that yet and do a little tiny bit of research. In the long run it will pay off.

Staying in control of your digital life and sharing content between all of your devices sounds like a dream come true… until you really look into it. Today, you have the world at your fingertips and can access whatever you need, whenever you need it – at home or in the office. But, are you sure you really want to do that? Let’s look at the pros and cons…

For starters, linking your applications among all devices is very simple and convenient, eliminates the chances of you missing an important call, text message, or email and makes you feel much more in control of your digital life. This connectivity helps you respond to communications in a timely manner, make changes or updates to social networks from anywhere at anytime, or take and upload photos instantaneously to access from any of your mobile devices.

Yet, this simplicity also comes with a drawback: the potential loss of your privacy. For example, say you are using Facebook on your office computer to chat with a friend. You step away from your desk and continue the conversation from your mobile device. If you’ve left Facebook open on your computer browser at your desk, anyone walking by will be able to watch your chat in real time – as it happens – with the text printing right on the screen. Logging out of one device before logging into another reduces this threat to your privacy. Password protect all of your devices with unique, challenging, and memorable passwords to safeguard your information and your content.