Have you ever had the feeling that someone was watching you? You know, that little bit
of uneasiness in the back of your mind. The slight tingle that forces you to turn your
head just to make sure. Well if you spend time on the internet, that’s
almost certainly true. Search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo make most of their
money selling advertising space. But advertisers don't like paying for ads that don't reach
their customer base. You wouldn't expect to find a mascara add in an issue of "Men's Health"
after all. So to solve this problem, search engines like
to track their users. That way they know just the right time to jump out of the bushes with
a net. Oops, I mean, jump out of the search results
with a sponsored link. As far as I know, Google's never kidnapped
anyone to sell them shampoo, but it’s understandable that some people don’t like the idea of
being tracked. For that reason, most browsers now feature an incognito mode to let you search
without surveillance. Here are seven lesser-known reasons you might
consider browsing incognito. Number One: Borrowing a Computer
Let's say that one day you’re out buying groceries. The usual stuff: bread, eggs, milk,
shrimp tartare, just a regular weekday run. You gather everything up and take it to the
register, but for some reason, your card keeps getting declined.
Clearly, something is wrong. This is usually where you'd check your banking app to see
what's up, but it just so happens that your phone is dead.
Just one of those days, am I right? Fortunately, you see your friend Jeff has
just checked out a few isles down, and you ask to borrow his.
Now, you like Jeff, but you don’t exactly know him all that well. You’re more work
acquaintances than best buds. So, before going to your bank’s website, you switch his browser
into incognito mode. This way, it won’t save your password, or anything else you type
in, such as an email address or date of birth. This is the safe thing to do any time you're
on a device other than your own. Whether you’re sending an email, checking your balance, or
just logging into Facebook, you don’t want strangers messing with your stuff.
Number Two: Something that Looks Bad Out of Context
So, tell me, are there any creative types listening? Let me hit you with a hypothetical.
Say you're working on your epic spy thriller when your dashing hero takes a drink from
the wrong glass. Now you need to figure out how much time James Reachbower has to get
to the hospital without looking like you’re trying to poison your roommate.
Typing something like "how long for cyanide to start working" is going to look kind of
suspicious if anyone happens to go through your search history. You might not be plotting
anything nefarious, but good luck telling the police it was for a book.
While all this writing about espionage might just be making you paranoid, you still don’t
want that suspicious search hanging around in your browser history. By turning on private
browsing, you can, at the very least, save yourself some awkward conversations if anyone
happens to get a look at your search suggestions. So, if you’re hoping to be the next Ian
Fleming, Steven King, or George R. R. Martin, you might want to make sure you’re searching
where no one can see it. Number Three: You’re Searching for Something
Embarrassing Not everything you want to keep secret is
going to get you into trouble. Maybe you have a rash and want to know if
it's something to see a doctor about. While you’re glad to know it can be healed with
some topical cream, you don't want to have the words "scaly bum rash" popping up in your
search suggestions. Fortunately, you had the forethought to browse in incognito mode, and
you can move on with your life, free from reminders of your itchy episode.
Private browsing also comes in handy if you find yourself googling the answer to a question
you feel a little bad about not knowing. Who’s on the one-hundred-dollar bill? What’s the
Queen’s Name? Is there an apostrophe in “don’t”? How do you even spell apostrophe?
These aren’t necessarily dumb questions, but that doesn’t mean you want daily reminders
of your previous lack of knowledge. BTW, What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever
had to search? Let me know in the comments! Number Four: Controlling video suggestions
Have you ever spent enough time on the internet that you found yourself in that weird part
of YouTube? It started innocently enough with cute animals and those weird ASMR videos where
someone brushes their hair while whispering into the camera.
One thing led to another, and now you're worrying if you should be calling the police.
The worst part is that weird videos keep showing up in the suggestion box.
Even if that hasn’t happened to you, there’s plenty of reasons someone might end up watching
a video well outside of their preferences. To keep weird or just unwanted videos from
cluttering up your feed, you might consider browsing incognito.
You won't have easy access to things like your YouTube subscriptions, but it will keep
one-off watches from haunting your homepage. Number Five: Using multiple accounts
It’s very common for people to have one account for personal messages and another
for work emails. If you're a college student, you might also get one through your university.
That's not even counting all the other reasons someone might need multiple email addresses.
Signing in and out of multiple accounts can be a real hassle, and if you’re answering
that many emails, you're clearly a busy person. To save some time, try opening each account
in a different private browsing window. Instead of having to go through each account
one by one, this trick allows you to check and respond to all your messages at once
Number Six: You want to look like a fresh user.
As I mentioned earlier, search engines keep track of what pages you look at so they know
what targeted ads to send your way. They also try to match your current results to pages
you've looked at in the past. But say you don't want to look at the same
sites you always do. Say you want to see what you'd find if the algorithm weren't trying
to cater to your tastes. This is another area where incognito mode can come in handy.
You see, it doesn't just prevent your browser from saving logins and history, it also disguises
your computer, hiding it from programs meant to track your usage.
Turns out it’s called incognito for a reason. Believe it or not, this trick can actually
help you save a bit of money on hotels an airfare. You see, some booking sites keep
track of who's looking at what destinations. This allows them to adjust pricing accordingly,
potentially charging more for trips you’re seemingly sure to make.
While browsing in incognito isn’t guaranteed to save you any money, it’s a useful trick
if you want to make sure you’re getting the best deal available.
Number Seven: Gift shopping Not that I can speak for everyone, but most
people like getting free stuff. I know I do. In fact, the only thing better than free stuff
is free stuff in a brightly colored box. With that in mind, you might decide to surprise
your significant other with a free stuff box of their very own. You spend weeks thinking
about the perfect free stuff to put in the box and finally settle on something you just
know they’ll love. You place your order and wait expectedly for the package to arrive.
You’ve planed this whole elaborate evening that ends with the revealing of the free stuff
box and can’t wait to see the look on their face as they unwrap it.
Then tragedy strikes! Not two days before it arrives, they come up to you and say, “I
saw you were Googling tandem bicycles.” Suddenly the surprise is ruined, and they
know precisely what they're getting on the next free stuff receiving day.
Man, I really need to come up with a snappier name for that.
While they’ll still appreciate the gesture, it’s just not as much fun if they know what
they’re getting. The good news is that this tragedy can be avoided if you use private
browsing when shopping for something to put in the free stuff box.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to turn on incognito mode while I look up shorter
words for free stuff box. Hey, if you learned something new today, then
give the video a like and share it with a friend, just like a gift! And here are some
other videos I think you'll enjoy. Just click to the left or right, and stay on the Bright
Side of life!