Dear LPG,

I came across this piece of information by accident the other day and though, to many computer users, it is obvious, and we all know it happens, I have never thought about how it really affects us before.  If you have a mobile phone, a tablet, a laptop or a computer you are likely to have an email address.   And that email address is essentially your electronic online home.

If anyone wants to get in touch with you literally, in these days where visiting is still not too advisable, they are more likely to telephone you or send you a letter, and when using the internet, we would perhaps send a message via email or a text. 

If something interests us, we are likely to go to a shop where we can take a closer look or just press the button on a phone or computer to get more information.  Before you know it you have been asked for your home address, be it geographical (including house number, street name and post code) or virtual (Your email address), and then there is no turning back.

Whether you walk to the shop or sign up online your footprint is well and truly established.  There are all types of ‘footprints’ these days.  We have all heard of the ones we leave in the sand and a great deal has been said about our carbon footprint, but there is another that perhaps we are not so aware of, and that is our digital footprint.

It is also the case that what you write on social media might come back to haunt you.  Although it appears that you can get away with nearly anything these days, what you send to your friends on social platforms like Facebook or Instagram could have repercussions., although this matters a lot more for those who are still likely to need a new job in the future. I was surprised to learn that employers are more likely to take a look there when working out if you are the right person for the job these days. 

No matter how careful we are, all the footprints are there to be seen and they don’t mean a lot to us, but they are gold dust to the internet companies who use them to find out what we are interested in (in other words – what they can try to tempt us to buy by making sure that appropriate adverts appear on our screens); and that way of using them illustrates the tip of a much bigger iceberg.

I found a few online articles about how to best start cleaning up electronically, but I would put them in the ‘quite complicated’ category when it comes to the difficulty list of computer instructions.  Perhaps it is something to get one of those young IT savvy friends of yours to take you through when they next visit.

Cleaning up after ourselves is a whole subject in itself but perhaps being a bit more careful about what we leave behind us and where we leave our contact details electronically, or otherwise, is somewhere to start.

KT, Beckenham

LPG would again stress that some of the links below show instructions that it might be better to try with the help of someone who knows a bit more about the technicalities of computers and how they work…

KT shares his findings…

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.. and a few things you can do to get started…

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