I'm starting to feel a bit unnerved by how little control I have over who has my data and how it's used.
While there's nothing that I'm particularly worried about, I hate the idea that there's so much information being gathered about me constantly, and that I have no idea what's being done with it, or why, or how... I thought I'd limited targeted advertising but it's still eerily on-point a lot of the time, including for incredibly niche things that have only been discussed out loud at home.
I also don't like how I need to create a new account to use basically any service these days, no matter how mundane, and hand over more details. I've completely lost track of all the random accounts I have with random companies. It feels like it's gone too far to go back and delete them all - I wouldn't even know where to start.
And with social media: I've always been careful about privacy settings and what I post, but I know there's some kind of footprint there, and there's bound to be silly comments I made fifteen years ago or similar. I cringe when the Facebook memories come up. Again, nothing scandalous or problematic, but also not necessarily something I want attached to my name either, especially in a professional capacity.
I've done some basic googling, but would appreciate hearing from others what steps they have taken, and what is and isn't practical or realistic? A lot of what's online seems either super-basic or waaaay above my pay grade; I don't want to change my whole life and go underground, I just want to have a bit more control.