Brian Maki’s “Little Black Book” offers a common sense approach to dealing with the difficulties that technology has introduced into our lives. As a computer instructor and consultant for over twenty years, Maki has seen how technology has rapidly changed our lives to the point where we are addicted to being “on” constantly, feel impatient when offline, and have been bombarded with with spam, computer frustrations, and worst of all, the threat of identity theft.
The title of the book refers to the need we have to keep track of our digital lives through non-digital and old-fashioned means, preferably a paper book in which we write all our usernames and passwords, as well as keep a record of any changes we make. do to our accounts. While Maki also admits that a flash drive can serve this purpose, she warns that flash drives are themselves subject to viruses, and keeping track of passwords on a computer leaves them open to hackers and viruses.
Through numerous short and concise chapters, Maki explains the concerns we all must have about leaving our digital footprint behind. He advocates “Googling us” regularly, how to update regularly so we have fewer headaches in the future, how to deal with spam email, the added dangers of identity theft if you have a cell phone, and the real power they have. social networking sites. about our lives, and how we can protect ourselves from the information those sites collect about us.
But what sets this book apart most is that it touches on the importance of end-of-life planning. After telling the story of William Weber, a man Maki helped organize his digital life before his death, Maki highlights how few of us think about what will happen to our digital lives and online identity after we have dead. She offers practical tips for monitoring our digital lives and planning for account closures to protect against identity theft even after we die.
This short book is valuable for focusing on a topic most people never think about. Maki covers numerous topics that will result in helping us protect our identities, our possessions, our freedom, and generally our happiness. As Maki states:
“You need to re-examine how you interact with the internet, what you share, why you share it, and learn to never go down the path of trust on the internet again. It’s your digital life that you need to control.”
As Maki points out, technology will be with us for the rest of our lives, it’s not going away, so we must actively learn to control and protect ourselves from it, putting it where it belongs as needed just to help us. instead of letting it continue to control our lives. I certainly feel the importance of this need, and I hope other readers do as well.