Scientific American presents Tech Talker by Quick & Dirty Tips. Scientific American and Quick & Dirty Tips are both Macmillan companies.

If you haven't done so in a while, try Googling yourself with a few key terms such as the city or state where you live. I bet you'll be surprised by what comes up. But have you ever dug a little deeper? Have you ever searched images and videos? What about Googling your address?

If you're not actively managing your online presence, odds are that there is a ton of information out there that you may not be aware of (or want to be public). Sometimes it's more than just an embarrassing picture. It could be more private information such as your home address or your schedule.

Should You Disappear from the Web?

There are a number of reasons you might want to digitally disappear from the internet.

Say you've had enough of the NSA snooping, getting off the internet would be a pretty good start! Just be sure to never use a phone, have a picture taken of you, or be in any major city for a prolonged period of time. Sadly, that's not a joke.

But in all seriousness, there might be other reasons why you'd want to erase some of your personal information from the web. Say you have a stalker? You definitely want to give them as few opportunities as possible to get to you. Or what if you're trying clean up an online reputation to get a job, or perhaps you just want more privacy in your life? These are all valid reasons to want to disappear from the internet.





> Continue reading on QuickAndDirtyTips.com