Making a quiet stand with your privacy settings

After making one of the largest refactor of our application, one that took several months in the making, where we tackled some of our biggest challenges. We tackled technical debt, upgraded legacy software, fortified security, and even made the application faster. After all that, we deployed the application, and held our breath, waiting for the user feedback to roll in.

Well, nothing came in. There were no celebratory messages about the improved speed, no complaints about broken features, no comments at all. The deployment was so smooth it was invisible. To the business team, it initially seemed like we had spent vast resources for no visible return. But we knew the underlying truth. Sometimes, the greatest success is defined not by what happens, but by what doesn't happen.

The server that doesn't crash. The data breach that doesn't occur. The user who never notices a problem. This is the power of a quiet, proactive defense. In this digital world, where everything we do leaves a data point, it's not easy to recognize success. When it comes to privacy, taking a stand isn't dramatic. In fact, its greatest strength is its silence.

No Dramatic Stand

We're conditioned to believe that taking a stand should feel significant. We imagine a public declaration, a bold button that flashes "USER REBELLION INITIATED!" when pressed. Just think about people publicly announcing they are leaving a social media platform. But the reality of any effective digital self-defense is far more mundane.

When I disagree with a website's data collection, I simply click "Reject All." No fanfare. No message telling the company, "This user is privacy-conscious!" My resistance is registered as a non-action. A void in their data stream. When I read that my Vizio Smart TV was collecting viewing data, I navigated through a labyrinth of menus to find the "Data Collection" setting and turned it off. The TV kept working just fine. Nothing happened, except that my private viewing habits were no longer becoming a product to be sold. They didn't add a little icon on the top corner that signifies "privacy-conscious."

Right now, many large language models like ChatGPT have "private conversation" settings turned off by default. When I go into the settings and enable the option that says, "Do not use my data for training," there's no confirmation, no sense of victory. It feels like I've done nothing. But I have.

This is how proactive inaction looks like.

The Habit of "Not" Doing

Forming a new habit is typically about adding an action. Going for a run every morning, drinking a glass of water first thing, reading ten pages a night. But what about the habit of not doing?

When you try to simply "not eat sugar," you're asking your brain to form a habit around an absence. There's no visible behavior to reinforce, no immediate sensory feedback to register success, and no clear routine to slot into the habit loop. Instead, you're relying purely on willpower. A finite resource that depletes throughout the day, making evening lapses almost inevitable.

Your brain literally doesn't know what to practice when the practice is "nothing." It's like trying to build muscle by not lifting weights. The absence of action creates an absence of reinforcement, leaving you stuck in a constant battle of conscious resistance rather than unconscious automation.

Similarly, the habit of not accepting default settings is a habit of inaction. You are actively choosing to not participate in a system designed to exploit your data. It's hard because it lacks the dopamine hit of a checked box. There's no visible progress bar for "Privacy Secured." But the impact is real.

Reclaiming Control

This quiet practice is our primary defense against what tech writer Cory Doctorow calls "enshittification". That's the process where platforms decay by first exploiting users, then business customers, until they become useless, ad-filled pages with content sprinkled around. It's also our shield against hostile software that prioritizes its own goals over yours.

Not to blame the victims, but I like to remind people that they have agency over the software and tools they use. And your agency includes the ultimate power to walk away. If a tool's settings are too hostile, if it refuses to respect your "no," then your most powerful setting is the "uninstall" button. Choosing not to use a disrespectful app is the ultimate, and again, very quiet, stand.

So, I challenge everyone to embrace the quiet. See the "Reject All" button not as a passive refusal, but as an active shield. See the hidden privacy toggle not as a boring setting, but as a toggle that you actively search for.

The next time you download a new app or create a new account, take five minutes. Go into the settings. Look for "Privacy," "Data Sharing," "Personalization," or "Permissions." Turn off what you don't need.

Nothing will happen. Your feed won't change, the app won't run slower, and no one will send you a congratulatory email.

And that's the whole point. You will have succeeded in the same way our refactor succeeded: by ensuring something unwanted doesn't happen. You've strengthened your digital walls, silently and without drama, and in doing so, you've taken one of the most meaningful stands available to us today.

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