My time on the Internet has been fairly short by most standards; I’ve only had a personal computer with online access since I was 14. Starting off on the Internet so late (compared to most of this generation) has had its advantages, such as having a smarter, more grounded head on my shoulders, and thus not falling into the traps so many younger people have, such as having bad passwords, joining every site they come across, or playing so many free online games that their computer has a breakdown. Even as I got accustomed to the web and dealing with it, I was very security-conscious, going out of my way to ensure what I was doing was safe for me personally and my computer.
Passwords have never been a problem for me. I’ve never been a member of so many sites that I couldn’t remember which password went to which account, and as the years went on, and sites started needing more and more numbers, letters, caps, and symbols for their passwords, I quickly adopted them into my older passwords, which made it easier for my to remember even new passwords. Like I said before, I also never had more than maybe 4 sites that I regularly visited with an account. Even sites that I routinely go to I avoid making an account if possible. I also never have my credit card saved on a site unless I use it extremely regularly, such as Amazon and my paypal account. I don’t even have my card saved on my Steam account. I also only use iTunes gift cards for my music purchasing, my credit card is not on my Apple account; and I get my music from either iTunes or from my personal CDs. I’ve always had bad thoughts about torrents or pirating anything (games, music, etc.), in part because it’s illegal, and I’m never sure if the sites are safe or not.
When I had my PC, I had all the firewalls and the highest security settings for browsing the web. I’d never download anything from a site I didn’t trust, and made it so that even stuff I would download needed to be scanned a number of times before it would start the process. Since I’ve bought my Mac I’ve been a lot more lenient with what I do online. Not that I’m less careful or visit every site no matter how shady it is, but the fact that Apple products have virtually no chance of getting viruses (not getting hacked though) compared to PCs, I don’t have to worry as much. I still delete anything that starts immediately downloading when I visit a page, and never take any weird looking online surveys. I’d say I have a very good, security-conscious way of interacting on the Internet, and with my Mac coupled with my hesitance in dealing with anything unfamiliar online, I have an extremely low chance of get a virus. Sadly, hackers are still a problem, but I tend to not think about that too much.