Living Safer in VPN Shadows Than Real Streets
By Syed John • 1 min read
My encryption stack feels more dependable than the neighborhoods I work in.
Key points
- • My encryption stack feels more dependable than the neighborhoods I work in
Every time someone asks how I stay safe, they expect a lecture on situational awareness. I end up talking about WireGuard configs and burner laptops. The truth is bleak: my digital shadows feel safer than the physical roads I cross. I trust my redundant VPN tunnels more than the streetlights outside the apartment I rented on short notice.
There's a psychological cost to living this way. When the power grid hiccups, my brain worries less about the darkness and more about whether the router batteries will hold. I have friends whose sleep schedules are synced to when their proxies rotate. We don't fear kidnappers as much as we fear plaintext leaks.
Maybe that's the future—safety as a software feature. But I can't shake the irony that we built fortified digital caves while ignoring the real-world infrastructure collapsing around us. Until streets feel as reliable as SSH keys, I'll keep hiding in packets.