October 14, 2023: Minimalist digital security: More independence from my phone number and laptop

October 14, 2023. I got up around 8:30 am, read a chapter from Bodo Schäfer's book, and then made myself breakfast. Since I decided to stop watching YouTube, I listened to an affirmation by Bodo Schäfer that I had downloaded months ago. Surprisingly, I was full after four rolls - without any sweet spread. Had I been watching YouTube at the same time, it would have been 8 rolls, at least two of them with a sweet spread. A nice first positive effect of giving up YouTube.

After the affirmation, I wanted to free my accounts from dependence on my specific phone number. This means that if I get a new number, I don't have to update all my accounts with the new number. I'm not tied to a specific phone number and can change it whenever I want. Or sometimes the account requires SMS verification to the registered number before logging in, increasing security at the cost of independence from the phone number. Being strongly tied to this number means losing access to it would cause unnecessary difficulties.

However, to not neglect security, I deleted my registered bank account on Amazon. So, every time I want to buy something on Amazon, I have to enter my bank details, preventing one-click purchases. A positive side effect is reducing the likelihood of impulse purchases even further.

When I logged in with my email address instead of the phone number, I still had to generate a two-factor authentication code. At that moment, I realized that losing my laptop would prevent me from logging into my accounts despite having the password. I'm very dependent on my laptop. If it stops working or I lose it, I can't just replace it. So, I decided to disable two-factor authentication wherever possible. For particularly critical accounts, I created the longest possible passwords.

While briefly reviewing all my orders since registering with Amazon, I wondered how much money I've spent here. Definitely over 5000 euros.

Then another interesting thought came to me: What if I use the same password for accounts that aren't critical at all? This would make me even less dependent on my password manager (Passkeys) on my Mac, where my passwords are stored. I wouldn't have to store or save these passwords anywhere. The password would only be in my head. And if I forget it for any reason, it's not a big deal because the accounts aren't critical. I use the same username.

In the evening, Julien came over and we watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 on TV. But Mom was sad and cried. She was thinking about Grandma Lina, who passed away. I hugged her and comforted her a bit.

1. I am less dependent on my phone number. It is now easier to change the number without having to update it on countless platforms where the number is used for logging in.
2. Reduced dependency on the laptop by disabling two-factor authentication on various accounts and using the same password for non-critical accounts.
3. To compensate for using the same password on non-critical sites, I deleted any entered and saved bank accounts on websites. I now have to manually enter these when purchasing on the respective site. This also automatically reduces the likelihood of impulse purchases.