What are simple things you are doing to help yourself and your neighbors right now? (US)

A lot of people are overwhelmed, and that is the point of the rapid fire changes we are seeing. Small actions can make a difference, and can grow into big impacts.

I live in a deeply red state, so a lot of my peers have to battle some cognitive dissonance before we can acknowledge there is a problem, much less begin to pin down actions that may help. So, I’m focusing on teaching my social circle on the tech basics. I have taken these things for grated, but I am finding many people do not use them. Plus, they don’t have to battle their cognitive dissonance with me in order to make these changes. Changes that will make everyone on the Internet safer and ensure we have information access to stay informed.

• Install a VPN - talking about it helps to normalize this. It doesn’t mean “I have something to hide” it means “I need to protect my privacy in an ever increasingly online world”. It means “I need to make sure my banking passwords stay secure.” If it is normalized for everyday use, then when somebody needs it to obscure their search for critical healthcare information that is now censored in their country or area, their VPN usage alone doesn’t give them away.

• Install a password manager - this one is best practice anyway, and good advice across the board. These things do not need to be equated with being a hacker.

• Establish secure lines of messaging - I recommend signal to people. This one has a high social cost, but you may be able to point out that normal text group chats often drop messages when the group has mixed apple and android users. YMMV and this one is a harder one for many people. I don’t push it too hard. I do censor myself on unencrypted messaging. If you want all the memes, you can join me on encrypted chat! Lol

• Secure chat doesn’t have to be signal if you’re on android, and you message others on android, note if you have the encryption lock or not. If not, encourage them to look in their settings for RCS messages and make sure they have encryption turned on.

Also, start small. And teach small. Plant the seed. Help get people set up where you can. If people as for your advice, think about suggestions that are easy to implement, even if they aren’t perfect. Encourage others to do what they can. You don’t need to self-host your own cloud server to take steps in the right direction and be a little safer online. We just need to slow them down.