GHOSTING THE INTERNET - HOW TO VANISH FROM THE WEB

In today's day and age, it's hard to imagine not having any sort of online presence. Our lives lare so intertwined with the internet that for most of us, our smartphones are the first things we reach for in the morning. While the internet is great with all the information, entertainment, and conveniences it enables, it's also quite terrifying. Cyberbullying, internet harassment, doxxing, online scams, phishing hacks, social engineering, digital finance heists, identity theft all these and more can cause anyone to have mean world syndrome and contemplate ghosting the entire online world.

- Chris Noel Hidalgo

So...how exactly can you completely delete yourself from the internet?

Step 1: Know exactly where you are and where you have been

The first step to vanishing from the vast online world is by assessing the exact extent of your digital presence. Start by doing a thorough search of your personal information on search engines, social networking sites, and other online directories. Not only should you scour the internet for your active aliases using commonly accessed platforms, you should also think hard about the possible names or nicknames you've used, as well as fringe cases such as long-lost discussion forums or one-time big-time social media signups. Note anything and everything that appears that is even remotely related to you.

Step 2: Back up your digital legacy

Now don't go deleting your entire digital life just yet. Make sure to preserve the important pieces of data and information you would like to keep on hand, especially those that have sentimental or significant value, yet you have no offline copies of. These can include photos and videos of life events, important documents, and other cherished memories.

Next, choose a backup storage option. Since you would be deleting yourself from the internet, you cannot rely on cloud storage services. As such, your remaining options will be limited to your device's native storage, external hard drives, USB flash drives, or the more old-school optical discs. Multiple redundant copies will ensure that your data will remain safe should one of these storage options likewise ghost you.

Step 3: Delete everything