The world wants more contact with me than I want with it. A good part of what comes to me technically or newspaper (I still get one to go with morning coffee) is about protecting my privacy. Just ran a search, ( and that in itself may be dangerous,) and found lists of 7 best apps and 10 best apps to download for safety. Some I would have to pay for on a sliding scale. Others would be free, yet reviews say those sites lack the filtering that subscription sites have. I’m not sure how it works, but I was attracted by the name for an alternate search engine GODUCKGO, guaranteeing to limit information about me that could be gleaned when I used a site. The phrase I really took to heart about its effectiveness was “you’re essentially tracking who’s trying to track you.” Will it damage my self image if I learn nobody is really interested in my interests?
Maybe because of a lifetime of listening to various age children trying to con me into something, I am fairly savvy about the letter from the nun in Africa held hostage by the Chinese and send money or else. The ones that I always run by my very alert daughter- in-law are the e-mails on Amazon like stationery saying my account has been hacked, and it is closed down until I go through a special number and process to be reinstated. She takes one glance and declares it a scam because Amazon would never put that extra squiggle at the end of line two.
The habit is for me to write down a number if I make a call to a service or medical person who will need to call back. If you aren’t in my address book and really are a long lost cousin from Wyoming, the digits without a name doesn’t get an answer. Real people and robots both get the off button pushed if their opening sentence is, ” Mrs. Smith, how are you today.”
In spite of dire warnings, you who are part of my Thursday output are safe. The list of followers are mostly by e-mails, and I really don’t know you are there unless something catches your fancy and you reply. One unknown from California and one from Singapore have just sent a Like without requiring any response from me. I have just left them in anonymous status which suits them and me. So far, I have had enough wisdom or good sense or a questioning mind to avoid a snare. In this world I open e-mails for pictures great-greats who live afar, and I visit with voices I know that are more than a short drive away. I have no desire to lose contact with the world. I just want the right protection when it’s needed.
My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one.
John 17:15
Let Me Tell Ya 