16 Ways to Go Off the Grid in Online Environment

Living off the grid signifies an individual’s commitment to an environmentally sustainable way of life without using power from the grid.

But is this the only thing, or is there more about going off-grid? For example, can we also go off the grid online, and if so then, how?

With so many benefits that the online world offers, it also has negative impacts on our lives, be it personnel, financial, health, or career.

This will make you think if you can go off the grid online, and will this process or transition be as smooth as it seems?

Yes, it can be a strenuous process, but the strong will and the right direction will open your doors to living a life off the grid online. So, let’s find out in this article about the different ways to go off the grid online.

What Is Off-The-Grid?

Living off the grid refers to the decision of an individual not to rely on public utility services to meet their energy needs.

You can also term it as “self-reliance.” Essentially, the term “grid” refers to the public utility system that provides energy to your home.

The idea of living off the grid has gained popularity as it gives individuals an eco-friendly approach to life. When any family chooses to live off the grid, they have a very good reason for doing it.

Success stories of people living off the grid will inspire and motivate you to start your new journey towards a self-sustained lifestyle. 

What Do You Mean By Going Off-The-Grid Online?

Off-grid living doesn’t only mean that you disconnect yourself from the power grid. When you find out, you will release there is much more to it. Disconnecting yourself from the internet world is also a type of off-grid living.

So, going off the grid online means disconnecting yourself from the internet, social media, computer, and mobile phones. It is time to wear a mask on and go incognito. Sounds crazy? 

Yeah, it does. You will only notice all the advantages it offers when you turn off the internet and pursue your desired goal.

Ways To Go Off-the-Grid Online

The only way to completely turn off-grid online is to turn it all off. This will mean that you cannot use cell phones, credit cards, or web surfing.

Using the computer is also prohibited. However, if you can’t handle that, you need to look out for some options so you can ensure a smooth transition to this lifestyle.

You have work, friends, and family, and to stay updated with everything around you, the internet, and the marketing world, getting off the grid online becomes an inexpedient choice. However, you need to get off the grid to achieve your goals and dreams.

Let us now look at and understand some of the ways to go off-grid online.

Anonymize Everything You Do Online

Internet anonymity refers to any interactions the user has with the internet that keeps their identity private from others and other parties.

Anonymity varies, and you can see it all over the internet.

Go Incognito On Your Website

Incognito mode allows you to browse websites without getting tracked privately. Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge are some of the Search engines in which you can use incognito mode.

To use the incognito tab, use the shortcut key, Ctrl+Shift+N on Windows and Command-Shift-N for MacOS. While browsing on a mobile phone or a desktop, you can click on three vertical dots and select a new incognito tab from the list.

Happy Incognito Browsing, guys!!

Anonymous On Your Phone

Privacy is what we want, but neither Android nor iOS give 100% access to privacy. So we have to find out how to get privacy for ourselves; below are some ways to help you get access to more privacy.

On Android:

• OPT Out Of Ads Personalization

You can OPT out of ads personalization which limits ad tracking, by following these steps:

Step 1: Open the Settings in-app.

Step 2: Click on Google and select Ads.

Step 3: Select opt-out of Ads Personalization.

• Disable Google Backup

According to Google Privacy Terms, Google collects your data as you use its services like Google Photos, Drive, Gmail for backup. You can disable Google backup by following through these ways:

• Turn off Google backup from the backup and sync option in your phone Settings or directly from Google photos.
• Pause backup and sync will temporarily stop backup on the computer.

Disconnect the account from backup and sync by clicking on three dots on the top right of the window, choosing the preference option, selecting settings, and then disconnecting the account. This will terminate the backup and sync service.

• Useful Alternatives

You can use VPN for anonymous browsing and downloading, Protonmail to hide your email information and Tor browser for extra anonymity.

On iOS:

• Remove Website Tracking Data In Safari

If you don’t want to get tracked while browsing websites and share your identity on iOS, you can follow these steps to remove cookies/history.

Step 1: Go to Settings, click on Safari.

Step 2: Tap on Remove all website data.

You can also turn private browsing on to avoid getting traced and identified.

• Block Ad Tracking

To restrict apps from uploading your data, you will have to turn off personalized ads by following these steps:

• Select Settings, and then tap on Privacy.
• Next, tap on Apple advertising.
• Turn off Personalized Apps.

No Access to Social Media Platforms

On Twitter

• Prevent Twitter From Tracking You

You can restrict Twitter from tracking you by following simple steps. We have explained below the procedure to do so for both android and iOS.

On Android:

• Open Twitter, go to Menu.
• Tap on Settings, click on your individual Account
• Select Tailor Twitter based on my apps and uncheck it.

On iOS:

• Press Settings co on me tab.
• Go to Setting, click on your individual Account.
• Tap on Privacy, select ‘Tailor Twitter based on my apps‘ and check it off.

• Stop Including Location Data In Tweets

     There are two simple ways you can do this:

Step 1: Click on the Location icon while writing the tweet and then tap on the ‘X’ on the top left to disable the location sharing feature.

Step 2: You can click on the ‘delete all location information‘ button to delete geotags from past tweets.

• Stop Twitter From Accessing Your Contacts

To stop Twitter from accessing your contacts follow these steps:

Step 1: Go to settings, click on Security and Privacy.

Step 2: Click on Manage your contacts.

Step 3: Select from Delete individual or all contacts.

On Instagram

• Make your Posts Private

You can make your account private to allow access to only those followers you want. Given below is a simple guide for doing it.

• Tap on your Profile icon on the bottom right side.
• Click on three Vertical bars on the top right side, select Settings.
• Tap on Account, and at the bottom, switch your Public account with Personal account.
• Prevent  Instagram From Sharing Information With Other Social Networking Sites

Restrict  Instagram from sharing posts to other social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat. For example, uncheck the option share to Facebook while uploading the posts on Instagram.

On Facebook

• Limit access to your future posts

Access to your future post on Facebook can be easily limited to just 4 simple steps.

Step 1: Tap on the three vertical bars in the top right of the Facebook app, click on your name.

Step 2: Click on the three vertical dots in the top right of the post.

Step 3: Tap on Edit privacy.

Step 4: Select who you want to share your posts with (Public, Friends, Only Me).

• Stop People Using Your Personal Info For Finding You

To stop people from using your personal information you need to:

• Tap on the three vertical bars in the top right of the Facebook app, click on your name.
• Select See your about info, then click on contact info, then tap on Edit.
• Edit email, social links, websites, address as according to your preferred audience.

• Prevent Your Name Being Linked With Ads

No one can link your names with any Ads if you have done the following:

• Go to the Settings by clicking on the three vertical bars.
• Select Ad preferences, go to the Ad settings section.
• At the bottom of the page, click on Social interaction, Select Only me.

• Block Facebook Apps From Accessing Your Data

You can easily block Facebook apps from accessing your data in just 3 steps:

Step 1: Tap on the three vertical bars in the top right of the Facebook app, go to Settings.

Step 2: Click on Apps and websites, click edit on Apps, websites, and games.

Step 3: Turn off Facebook apps from getting access to your data.

On Snapchat

• Make sure Only Your Friends Can Contact You

If you wish that only your friends can reach out to you, then

• Tap on your Profile icon, go to Settings.
• Under the heading Who can click on Contact me.
• Select on My friends.

• Select Who You Want To See Your Stories

You can have control over who can see your stories posted on Snapchat. Just follow these steps:

Step 1: Go to Settings.

Step 2: Under the heading Who can click on View my story.

Step 3: Select from Everyone, My friends, or Custom.

• Remove Yourself  From The “Quick Add” Section

Removing yourself from Quick Add is quite simple and can be done as suggested below:

• You have to go to Settings again.
• Again, click on Who can, but click on See in quick add.
• Finally, uncheck the option.

• Move Private Snaps Saved In Your Memories To My Eyes Only

For extra privacy of your charming snaps you can follow this guide:

• Swipe up and open Memories.
• At the top tap, the Tick icon.
• Select snaps to be moved to My Eyes Only.
• Tap the lock icon at the bottom, click on Move.

Don’t Sign In

Your login details are just a sign-in away from the unauthorized identity. Never enter your details into the unauthorized website.

Hackers can steal your sensitive data just by getting your login details. You can identify an unsafe website if it shows the following signs:

• Beware of a website that asks for your details. It can be trying to steal your personal information.
• A website that offers you products and services at hard-to-digest prices could be a threat to you. Never trust them.
• Analyze the URL. If it looks strange to you, close the website ASAP.

Change Your Passwords Frequently 

If you have the same password for every website or service you use, your data is at risk, and if you don’t change your password often, then the hackers are ready to attack.

To protect yourself from identity theft, it is advised to keep changing your passwords frequently. At least change the password of your social networking sites or any other service that you use once a month.

Delete Your Information From Data Mining Sites

Data mining is a process to convert raw data into useful information. Companies use it to know more about their customers to build marketing strategies and increase sales.

Deleting your information from data mining sites can be a strenuous and lengthy process.

To remove your data from mining sites, you will first need to create a burner email account, only used for the data deletion in the process. To delete your data, first, you will need to share your data by creating a new account.

Get Off Public Accounts

A public account directly allows anyone to get access to your posts and personal information. Social networking sites are sensitive to this access but provide enough security to keep your data safe.

Stop using social media networks to keep your personal information safe. Nothing is 100% private.

Block Third-Party Cookies

Restrict third-party cookies from getting access to your data, following these steps:

• On the Chrome tab, click on the three vertical icons, go to ‘Settings.’
• Tap the Advanced option, under ‘Privacy and security’ and then select ‘select site settings.’
• Click Cookies and site data.
• Uncheck ‘Block third-party cookies.’

Tailor Permissions For Website That You Access

As an individual using the internet daily, you visit various sites. You may provide them access permission knowingly or unknowingly without realizing that you determine the level of access to your site. 

Assigning permission levels can help you protect sensitive content, such as a contract or budget information, etc.

Hide Your IP Address

You can use VPN to access privacy that hides your IP address and other data you use while surfing the website. Proxy server controls your internet traffic on your behalf. It is used as a temporary solution.

For browsers, IP masking can also be used to hide IP addresses.

Fill the Internet With Wrong Information

This is one interesting way to confuse the internet, play some hide and seek, and use a pseudonym while entering your information on sensitive websites. Then, if anybody tries to steal your data, it won’t be your data or of anyone else.

Anonymous Money Transactions

When it comes to money, it becomes a very sensitive case. If you have to make an online money transaction make sure to keep your identity anonymous.

Several apps and websites allow anonymous money transactions. Cryptocurrencies, prepaid debit cards, masked credit cards, prepaid gift cards, and PayPal are the best ways to make an online transaction anonymously.

Use Prepaid Phones

Using prepaid phones can also be one way of going off the grid online. It especially helps off-girders in saving money and secure their personnel data.

With prepaid phones, you generally do not sign any contract with the providers. No contract means you are neither obliged to share your personnel data with the provider nor can the provider demand such data from you. 

Explore more benefits of prepaid phones here.

TracFone LG Journey 4G LTE Prepaid Smartphone

Use Gift Cards For Purchases

Gift cards are a great way to keep yourself off the grid online and protect your identity too. Instead of swiping cards, try to use gift cards to purchase any product. Save money, keep identity safe.

Amazon.com eGift Card

Cancel Any Bank Accounts

You can do this easily by visiting your bank or writing an email or letter to them. Your bank will make you sign an account closing form and let you withdraw the available cash from your bank account.

Personally Thinking

Deciding that you will go off the grid does not mean cutting yourself off from the civilized world altogether. Off-grid living is a greener, healthier, more independent lifestyle, but that doesn’t mean you’re back from zero. 

You can still enjoy full access to the internet and a wealth of information. People and the services it provides. As long as you know how to limit your dependence on it.

The Internet is considered a beautiful and clever innovation, but it has its own implications. Everyone using the internet may not use it very wisely. So, you should only trust yourself and be safe from online frauds and hackers trying to steal your data.

Conclusion

When you get used to an internet connection, it is tough to disconnect from the grid fully. There may be many reasons that may attract you to the internet, but you will also find some good reasons to distance yourself from it.

You can go off-grid to some extent. But, if you want, it all depends on how much you are allowing yourself towards it.

If you are reading this article of ours, thank you, and I hope you have found the information useful. Also, tell us about your experience of going off the grid online.