How to Hide Your Online Activities from Parents

Make sure you've covered your steps. Learn how to delete your browser history without arousing suspicion. All you need to do is delete it, then open a few inconspicuous yet connected web pages that can explain the two hours you spent on the laptop last night in your room. As mentioned above, make sure they're connected; for example, you wouldn't see 'how to bathe a cat - Google search', then the next page visited being the The Big Bang Theory website. Also, make the pages relevant to you; don't search for something your parents know you don't have an interest in.^[1]

Find ways to hide your browsing. Most browsers that are updated to the latest version will have private browsers that don't track anything you browse on the Internet. This can be useful if your parents check your history daily to see what sites you go on.^[2]

• Do note that if your parents get in touch with the internet service provider, they can still find out the sites you visit.

Tab switch when your parents are around. To tab switch, open a page your parents allow you to use an keep that page open. In another tab, open a site you want to use. When a parent approaches you while using the site you want to use, switch to the site they will let you use. When you're finished, clear the history that leads to that site. You could also window switch if you can, that way your parents wont even see that tab in the list, or hide your tab list.

• When you tab switch, do it calmly and normally to avoid unsuspected suspicion from your parents for switching tabs too quickly when they enter the room.

Get all your accounts sorted. Get your Twitter or Tumblr account, by creating a new email address only you have access to. Don't make your username '@charlie_simms' if your name is Charlie Simms; instead, use something relevant to you yet not including your name. For example, if you were a fan of The Big Bang Theory, your username could be something like 'sheldon_cooper_hugz'. Never post your username on your Facebook page, as your friend's parents may see it and decide to check it out, only to find smutty fanfiction and some very disturbing Shenny or Shamy pictures. If you're going to be using a parent's phone to access your secret account, be sure to log it off properly after. You don't want them coming across your fanfictions that you've written, do you?^[3]

Make sure you can access your desired site. If you have a family computer, make yourself a password-protected user account of your own. It'll be easier to use your desired site without people seeing. Also, if you happen to come across something bad, like a fanfiction, make sure it doesn't affect you. You could read a gay fanfiction about two characters from a movie, only to find out the next day your parents are taking you to see it in the cinema. You don't want to be sat there for two hours either with a smirk or a horrified expression. This will trigger responses and questions that can be sometimes very different to answer logically.

Don't let your new Internet identity affect your 'normal' life. Obviously, there's no point having your 1,000 Twitter followers or 3,000 reblogs on Tumblr if you're not going to do anything with them. However, it's important not to let yourself spend an excessive amount of time on the computer, or else your parents may begin to be a little concerned and ask to see your history. If you can't show them what you've 'done' on the computer in the past few days, they're obviously going to get suspicious.

Conduct a Google search of your full name. If anything comes up even remotely related to you, find the account it's on and delete it. If you've posted anything you don't want your parents to see and it appears on a Google Search result, delete it and move it to another account. Googling your name can be the easiest way for parents to really discover what you're doing online. If it's happened to a friend of yours, you will see and understand how embarrassing it is. Be careful while doing this, as it isn't 100% safe to search your full name on a browser.

Make sure you don't act secretive. Parents will know something's up if you start behaving differently. If you want to change your image, sit down with them and talk about it.

Implement these steps gradually. Don't act secretive about it.

Don't post any pictures of yourself or status updates you wouldn't want your grandma to see. That's the general rule. You can post Photoshops of celebrities and the like, but if it's your life, then they may object to that not to mention total strangers finding out what goes on in your day-to-day activities.

If confronted about it, tell the truth. That's what's recommended. If a family member approaches you and says they found your Twitter account, be honest and admit it. If it's completely anonymous, and there's no way you could identify who runs the account/blog, you could always vehemently deny it on the grounds they have no proof. At worst, you could say it's a friend's account and they asked you to look at something on there; don't tell them the friend's name if they ask.

Create another e-mail account. If your parents threaten to confiscate your computer if you don't show them all your passwords, they can log into your e-mail and find out what people have been e-mailing you, and therefore what accounts you have been signing up for. Create a separate e-mail account and use it for what they won't let you do and use your old one for what they will let you do.^[4]

Use Virtual Desktops. This step works similar to the Tab Switching, just switch Virtual Desktops not Browser tabs.

Use a VPN to prevent your parents from looking at the logs from the ISP. All they will see is that you were connected to that VPN. They can't see what you've visited. Some good VPNs are Nord VPN, Proton VPN, etc.