(Bugout.news) Our world has increasingly become digitized, there is no question about that. So plugged in and app’ed are we that presidential candidates are now launched on social media sites like YouTube and Facebook instead of in traditional media.

But increasingly, studies have shown that maybe we’re just a little too plugged in, a little too wired. Studies have shown that our wired world has disturbed our sleep habits and patterns especially in children; keeps us over-stimulated and less attentive; distracted.

Our virtual world seems to have taken over the real world in many instances, and in a situation where society has collapsed or some other national emergency has deprived us of these services, many won’t be able to adequately cope. Some will literally go off the deep end.

Don’t be one of those people. There are ways to remain “connected” to the wired world without being dominated by it, if you’re ready and willing to begin cutting most of your electronic leash.

Now, understand that if you remain plugged in at any level you’re going to leave identity breadcrumbs in the digital world. That’s okay; this isn’t about unplugging completely. After all, it is a wired world – that is just reality – so you’ll need to partially exist within it to work, stay informed and for other basic purposes.

The digital world just shouldn’t take over your life, however. Here’s how you can pull back in a big way without losing all touch and without losing your mind:

— Get a land line: A what? A landline – that is, an old-school telephone, a device that only makes and receives calls. No text messaging, no game-playing, no checking social media apps all day long. Get a phone line with an answering machine so people can at least leave you messages.

You can keep your cell phone for travel and emergencies, but otherwise turn it off and stow it away somewhere.

— Purchase what you need with gift cards: You can even use these to shop online if you want. Visa, American Express and other traditional credit card companies make these; use your cash to “fill” them, so to speak, then chuck them when they’re empty and get new ones.

If you’re ordering a lot of stuff online try rotating where items are delivering.

— Give up your ‘social’ life: Due to the explosion of social media, people tend to know more about other folks than they ever would have before the new media revolution, and what’s more, heavy social media users are giving away their information voluntarily.

Government agencies, corporations and other entities monitor social media sites and gather terabytes of data on users. Unplug from the social sites and unplug from the voluntary information provision cycle.

— Erase picture data: If you like posting photos online and have done so repeatedly, see if you can go back and erase the EXIF data This information includes the make of the camera, date and time the pic was taken, and, with some modern cameras, geographical location.

— Encryption: When you do want to use email, use an encrypted email service, like Unseen.is. Forget the garbage and guilt-tripping by the government and other entities that like to track you; you know you’re not a criminal so don’t let them intimidate you into remaining “in the open.” A simple tool is Encypher.it, an AES text encryption program that works with Gmail or any other Web-based text.

— Hide your IP Address: A sure way to track you is to allow a site to collect your IP address for marketing and other purposes. A proxy server can help you avoid detection, like Tor.

— Don’t sign up: Public places or businesses that offer free Wi-Fi often will ask you to first sign up for the service. Don’t. Go to places like Starbucks or Barnes & Noble that have Wi-Fi services available without asking you to register.

Still, your activity can be traced, so you can use Hotspot Shield or similar cloaking program to protect your online activity from wireless snoopers.

— Don’t disappear, deceive: Often the best way to remain fairly anonymous is to hide in plain site. Since most information about you online was put there by you, “hide” by filling the Internet with misinformation about you. Develop an alias, get an email and sort of “become” someone else.

[H/T: The Prepper Journal]