The first step to our autonomy and independence is our awareness. Understanding at which points our data might be exploited to our detriment and to the benefit of those who wish to control us is a good starting point.

If any of this concerns you, here’s my pick of six things that I rate as among the most important to do:

1. If you don’t want your spending to be tracked, pay with cash — and certainly avoid using store cards or reward cards.
2. When you don’t want to be tracked, turn off location services on your phone and consider using a location spoofer such as Dr.Fone for iOS to give a fake location.
3. Read the small print of any company organization to which you provide data, including health and fitness tracking apps. Avoid using the product or service if data privacy and anonymity are not guaranteed.
4. Avoid using an energy smart meter or cloud-based virtual assistants (e.g. Alexa) that monitor you 24/7.
5. Turn your mobile phone off when you don’t want to be monitored — including at night. (You don’t need to use your phone as an alarm clock, alarm clocks are still being manufactured and are readily available!)
6. Run a data breach search using your email address,  If your email is subject to a breach, change your email address and password.

If you’re anything like me and you’re determined to maintain your access to natural health products, possibly because your health and survival depend on it, you will now have to work hard to protect your independence and autonomy.

Being a passive participant in the IoT revolution that’s coming at us thick and fast is simply not going to cut it.

Or, if you’re unlike me, you might be happy to give up your personal sovereignty, and accept the healthcare solutions that are provided to us by governments and the mainstream medical establishment (principally pharmaceuticals and vaccines, of sorts).

You might even find the notion of universal health coverage as defined by the WHO appealing.

My take is that if this is allowed to happen through our passivity or silent acceptance, this will open the door even more widely to new-to-nature, gene-altering drugs, vaccines and reactive, symptom-focused, mainstream services.

Diversity in choices would be eroded and the dysfunctional, allopathic model of healthcare and Big Pharma would prevail and even increase its dominance.

This trend will always work against the interests of natural health, complicating or even hindering our access, perhaps indefinitely, to natural means of health management and regeneration that got humanity to this point.