Smart
speakers.
Banking
online.
Location
tracking.
If
you
are
a
senior
adult,
there’s
no
doubt,
the
digital
leaps
and
bounds
you’re
asked
to
consider each
day can
be
daunting. If
you
are
the
child
of
a
senior
adult
trying
to
make digital
life more
accessible, helping
your
parent
consistently
stay
safe
online
can
also
be
a
challenge.
According
to
a
recent Pew
study on
the
topic, senior
adults
continue
to
become
more
digitally
connected,
but
adoption
rates
continue
to
trail
younger
users,
and
digital
divides
remain.
The
study
also
revealed
that
77%
of
older
adults
needed
assistance
in
learning
how
to
use
technology.
Privacy
path:
Awareness
&
consistency
As
a
senior,
it’s easy
to
feel
intimidated
and
even try
to avoid
technology altogether as
a
safety
plan.
However, more healthcare,
banking,
and retailers become
almost 100%
digital, opting
out
of
digital
life is
becoming
impossible.
Still,
there’s
a
way
forward. As
with
any
challenge,
it’s
best
to
begin
one
step
at
a
time.
First,
put
your
stake
in
the
ground
by
committing to
increase
your
awareness and
consistency in
the
digital
realm.
Doing
so will
help
you
reduce
your
fear
about
potential data
breaches,
malware
attacks,
or worse,
falling
prey
to
an online
scam. Here
are
seven
more
ways
to
build
upon
your
privacy
path.
7
Ways
to
build
up
your
online
privacy
1.
Get
on
a
family
protection
plan.
Online
protection
software
safeguards
your
privacy
while
also
looking
after
your
privacy
too.
McAfee+
Family
plans
include
personalized
protection
for
each
member
of
the
family,
including
older
family
members
outside
the
home.
For
example,
a
grandparent
can
set
up
and
manage
their
own
protection
for
their
identity,
privacy,
computers,
and
phones.
And
inviting
a
grandparent
onto
the
plan
is
as
simple
as
sending
an
email.
2.
Update
and
store
your
passwords.
Updating
your
passwords
regularly
is
an
online
privacy
gamechanger. The
only
problem?
It’s
tough
to remember
all
those
passwords,
so
who
wants
to
risk
changing
them,
right? Consider
a
password
manager (find
the
software packages
that
have a
password
manager built-in). Your Password Manager (PM) stores
then
populates the username
and
password
fields
every
time you
log
on
to
a
favorite
site
or
app.
Better
yet,
it
makes
changing
your
password
an
easy
task
since
you
don’t
need
to
do
any
remembering—your PM does
it
all
for
you.
3.
Use
2-Factor
Authentication
(2FA).
What
in
the
world? 2FA sounds
complicated! Don’t
worry, it’s not. Opting
for
2FA means
that
before
logging
onto
your
account,
you
will
have
one
more
step
to verify it’s
you
logging
on.
When
given
this
privacy
option, take
it. Commonly,
the
2FA
process
is
a
code
generated
by
a
smartphone
app—no
biggie.
If
you
want
to
try,
go
to
your
settings
in
your
favorite
apps,
such
as
Google
or Facebook,
and turn
on
the
2FA
option.
4.
Install
software
updates
immediately.
Along
with
strong
passwords,
updating
your
software
is
a
front-line
defense
against
identity
theft
and
fraud.
Installing
software
updates
(those
pesky
pop-up
notices that are critical to
your
privacy)
is
essential
in
securing
your
IoT
devices,
PCs
and
phones,
and
the
social
media,
banking,
and
healthcare
portals
connected
to
them.
5.
Use
a
Virtual
Private
Network
(VPN).
If
we
could
write
this
one
tip
down
a
hundred
times
without
losing
our
readers,
we
surely
would. Every
senior
adult
needs
a
VPN
for
practical,
powerful
privacy
protection
and
peace
of mind.
A
VPN
keeps
credit
card
and
personal
info
contained
in
a
secure
network
and
away
from prying
eyes.
6.
Fight
back
with
knowledge.
Fraudulent
emails
connected
to fraudulent
websites
can
look
very
legitimate.
A
secure
website
will
have
an
“HTTPS”
in
the
browser’s
address
bar.
The
“s”
stands
for
“secure.”
If
the
web
address
or
URL
is
just
HTTP,
it’s
not
a
secure
site.
Still
unsure?
Read
reviews
of
the
site
from
other
users
before
making
a
purchase.
Never
send
cash,
cashier’s
check,
or
a
personal
check
to
any
online
vendor.
If
purchasing,
always
use
a
credit
card
in
case
there
is
a
dispute. Stay
up-to-date
on
scams
that
target
seniors
specifically.
Lately,
elder
scams have
been
constructed
around
COVID,
dating apps,
tax
returns, employment, and,
of
course,
the
common military
catfish
scams.
7.
Clean
up
your
digital
breadcrumbs.
Like
it
or
not,
companies
gather,
share,
and
sell
plenty
of
information
about
us
online.
Among
them,
online
data
brokers
that
collect
information
about
people
from
public
records
and
third
parties,
like
shopping
information
from
the
discount
cards
we
use
to
get
deals
at
the
supermarket
or
drug
store.
They
compile
this
information
and
post
it
online
for
anyone
to
see,
for
a
price.
And
they’ll
sell
it
to
anyone.
That
includes
marketers,
advertisers,
and
even
bad
actors
who
use
it
for
scams
and
to
help
them
commit
identity
theft.
You
can
clean
up
these
digital
breadcrumbs,
though.
Our
Personal
Data
Cleanup
scans
some
of
the
riskiest
data
broker
sites
and
show
you
which
ones
are
selling
your
personal
info.
We’ll
also
provide
guidance
on
how
you
can
remove
your
data
from
those
sites
and
with
select
products,
we
can
even
manage
the
removal
for
you.
Have
fun
as
you
skill
up.
When
trying
to
boost
your
digital
skills,
don’t
forget
about all
the
amazing
instructional content
at
your
fingertips.
A
quick
search
of
YouTube
will render
easy-to-understand
videos
on
how
to
do
just
about
everything
(including
install
security
software,
change
your
router
password,
secure
the
smart
devices
in
your
home,
and
how
to
adjust
your
privacy
settings
on
any
device).
Learning or building a
new
skill isn’t
always
easy,
but if
you
stop
to
think
about
it,
as
a
senior, you’ve
gained
so
many
skills over
your
lifetime
(far
more
than
your
juniors).
So,
practically
speaking, building
up
your
tech
skills is
one
is
just
one
more task to
ace.
So, lean
into
the
challenge, have
fun learning,
and
don’t hesitate to
ask
for
help
if
you
need
it.
About Author
