Digital hygiene (or digital wellness) is a term used to describe how people can look after their mental health and digital safety in the online world. Limiting your screen time and using digital safety measures is ever important in an online world designed to soak up what little free time we have. 

Rhys Primus, a MacEwan communications student, stresses the importance of digital hygiene and the benefits it can have on people. “I have so much potential as a human being to be, like, creating and doing things or hanging out with my friends. And instead, I’m just, like, watching videos that I’ve seen before, watching things that I’m not laughing [at] and watching things that don’t inspire me.”

Here’s a list of the best ways to look after your mental health and your digital safety.

Mental Health

Limitations and boundaries

Boundaries are also important outside of your relationship with your parents — you also need to have boundaries with your phone. Whether through apps like Forest App (which grows a tree over a set time) or even Touch Grass (an app that won’t let you open your phone until you send a picture of you literally touching grass), setting limitations for how connected you are is important for mental health.

Be mindful

Be mindful of the content you’re engaging in. Primus is all too keenly aware of the effect social media’s algorithm can have. 

“I very specifically interact with content that I trust. So I don’t ‘like,’ like, all the news things I ‘like.’ Make sure I go off the app and, like, cross-reference things to see if they’re true or not,” he says. Whenever he wants more similar content to what he really likes, Primus will strategically try to control his algorithm by ‘liking’ with intention.

Try greyscale

Some people have begun changing their phones to greyscale. “The idea is to make your phone less fun to use,” reports Wired. While there are varying degrees of success with this, it’s definitely worth a try.

Digital detox

Going cold turkey can seem scary. How will you know what your friends are currently listening to? How will you know that girl from high school is celebrating six years with her high school sweetheart? 

In this case, ignorance is bliss. Fully disconnecting from your phone for a while can encourage you to use your phone less. 

“I just try to do, like, the opposite of exposure therapy or something —exposure to real life is what I’m doing,” Primus says.

A digital detox can range from not using social media for a month, or limiting your technology uses to a few hours a day. 

Digital safety

Stay updated

Keeping your phone and apps updated not only keeps your phone at optimal levels, it also keeps the information safe. Usually, the goal of updates is to prevent security breaches.

Turn on multi-actor identification

While multifactor identification can be incredibly annoying to set up, using it can provide an added layer of security for your phone. While we can’t avoid not uploading all our personal information in this digital world, we can add extra steps so that it’s harder for others to access it. 

Use passphrases rather than passcodes

Passphrases are an easier way to manage your passcode requirements. They’re easier to remember and they’re harder for other people to crack. But if you’re not ready to move onto a passphrase, you can also use a website like kaspersky: password checker to see the safety of your passcode.

Don’t share personal information on social media platforms

This seems like a given but it bears repeating. A good way to gauge this is by asking yourself, “would I want a complete stranger to have access to this information?” The online world is not private and nothing is ever completely gone. Posting private information can be dangerous. Young women should avoid live-posting their location , and nobody needs your SIN except for the government and your job.

If you live with a mood or mental health disorder that can cause periods of impulsivity, take special care to prevent sharing your private information online.

The Office of Privacy Commissioner of Canada has ten tips for protecting your personal information on their website. If your information does get leaked the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre recommends contacting your local police for any incidents of fraud, scam, or cybercrime. 

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Photo by Amanda Erickson