Privacy
Most of the internet is free because you pay with information about you instead of money — what you read & how long you read it for, what you search, where you go. You don't have to give up the internet to give up less of yourself. A few small changes go a long way.
Why everyone wants your email address
Your email address is how companies recognize you across the internet. When two businesses compare notes — and they do, constantly — your address is the thread that ties your shopping, reading, and browsing together into one profile. That profile is bought and sold. It's also why a breach at one little shop brings spam to the inbox you use for everything.
Give every account a different address
It sounds strange the first time, but it works really well: modern services can invent a fresh email address for each place you sign up. Mail still lands in your regular inbox — but if one company leaks or sells your address, you know exactly who did it, and you can turn that one address off like a light switch.
Do this when you next sign up for something
On Apple devices, use Hide My Email — it offers automatically when a website asks for your address. Gmail users can add a label to their address (yourname+shopping@gmail.com) to see who shares it, or use Firefox Relay for full aliases.
What private browsing actually does
"Private" or "incognito" mode does one modest thing: it makes the browser forget your history and sign-ins when you close the window. It's the right tool when you're on a shared computer or looking at something on Amazon that you don't want to get recommendations for over the next 6 months. It does not hide what you do from websites, your internet provider, or advertisers — despite the reassuring name.
If you use Apple devices:
Turn on Private Relay
iCloud Private Relay (included with any paid iCloud plan) hides your internet address as you browse in Safari, which makes it much harder for advertisers to follow you from site to site. You turn it on once in settings, and it works silently in the background.
Use Safari, not Google Chrome
Apple is constantly trying to add different techniques to Safari to make it more difficult to track you. For example, they severely limit the information that is sent to websites about your computer, and limit the effectiveness of trackers watching you. Conversely, Google is trying to sell ads. Firefox is also decent.