Eager about online oblivion, I dug up my normal browser and spent a week exclusively using Tor browser. While its privacy security is impressive, I did not expect how much it would change my perception of the Internet.
What about my browsing changed
It is easy to set and use the tore like chrome or any other browser, but it provides something that you will not get out of the box with specific browsers: privacy. The Tor saw me for the first time how different the internet makes me feel when privacy takes priority. At the forefront, with privacy, many aspects of my browsing experience changed.
1. My awareness about online tracking
One of the first things I paid attention to with the tor was how much trekking is cooked in everyday browsing. When using a specific browser, I did not think that every click, search and scroll were logged.
After all, we are bombing with a cookie banner and think we have been tracked, right? Not enough. Often, websites do not disable every tracker, even if you tap on the rejection button on the banner.
Most tracking runs in the background, often quietly and without your clear consent. But with TOR, online trackers were essentially neutralized. It blocks trackers, and it is an eye -opening to see the banner that I had not seen before. For example, I only discovered that Google offers a way to get out of cookies and other trekking when I tried to access it through the tor. I had never seen the screen in the above image displayed in my country before!
2. I felt more invisible online
Using the Tor I gave me a sense of digital invisibility that I did not experience earlier. Unlike the mainstream browsers, which connect your activity to your IP address, location, or even your browsing habits, Tors beani all around the world, by bouncing their traffic through many nodes, all of them. By doing this, Tor makes anyone difficult to detect their online activity.
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For example, using TOR was a fresh experience. Suddenly, my real place was no longer visible, which meant that I had to change the language on websites from time to time, as some used my fake space and displayed materials in unfamiliar languages. The advertisement also felt strange, because there was no privatization, which was a big thing. This becomes even better if you learn how to use Tor safely.
In the tor, I could immediately reset my identity, by adding another layer of oblivion. It is difficult to achieve such invisible on mainstream browsers without significant adaptation. This is an important reason that Tor is one of Go-to browsers to browse dark web.
3. My browsing habits transferred
By spending a week with the Tor, I was deliberately done how I used the Internet. Because I knew that I was working in a more privacy-conscious environment, I naturally started adjusting my behavior to the match. First, I avoided logging in individual accounts as it felt defending for the whole idea of anonymous browsing.
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Logging in services like Gmail and Facebook meant whether I used Tor or not meant that my activity was bound by my real identity. By using the Tor, I also came to know how much information we really give without thinking about it.
By browsing in a tightly controlled, private environment, I became more alert about sharing my personal information with websites. If a site is required that I fill a form before providing access to the material, I clicked. I also clarified about the websites that demanded compulsory cookies to move forward.
4. I got access to things that I could not do normally
After oblivion and after reaching the dark web, I did not think of any other reason why I want to use TOR. Surprisingly, it also opened some parts of the Internet, which I could not usually reach the open web. Since it roots your connection through many nodes (or relay), the result is that websites do not look at your real place, but are not the place of exit node.
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This meant that I was able to see a material that is usually not accessible in my country, whether censorship, licensing boundaries or regional blocking. It was to open the eyes to know that the Internet is not at all uniform for all, and the Tor tries to level the playground a little.
Of course, there are other ways to bypass internet censorship – you do not need to use TOR. And, as expected, I could safely access the dark web also, an important reason that many people use TOR in the first place.
5. Browsing was annoying
The biggest drawback I experienced in my one -week Tor Trial was how sluggish everything became. My Go-Two websites, which usually loaded almost immediately, used to take longer, sometimes up to several milliseconds, before I could see the material. Many times, the loading took longer than expected and finally failed due to the timeout. But this happened only a few times.
This was not due to a slow internet connection – when I visited the same sites using my normal browser, Vivaladi, everything was quickly loaded. Multi-hop routing and encryption of Tor Network are slow traffic, but integral parts of its privacy.
With additional encryption and decryption, additional hoping from a relay to the next, adds more overhead which will otherwise be a simple point-to-point connection.
Didn’t the tor change
Using TOR was a game-changer as to how I used the Internet, but it could not change everything. Some aspects remain unchanged, from practical annoyance to individual habits, which my relationship was private, regardless of how private was stable.
1. My real identity online
Tor is safe and anonymous by design, but even with all encryption layers, my online identity remained the same. Although it protected my location by my activity, IP addresses and,, which did not prevent some websites from the need for my real identity to use their services.
If I log in to Facebook or Gmail, my identity was the same. I can create an anonymous account for Netflix and other services that I use, but I will not be able to fake my payment details. So do not think that the use of TOR is a magic wand that makes you invisible. It takes more than firing the Tor to achieve full online oblivion.
2. I need for speed and convenience
Even with the ability to bypass all the benefits of privacy and the ability to bypass, how much I crave the speed and convenience of my regular browser. It took longer to load the pages, and the video was often bored to such an extent that I did not find anything for a few minutes.
I also faced issues with several websites, which either broke or refused to open. Some websites such as YouTube, especially the Tor’s most restrictive did not work with the most restrictive the safest Safety levels competent (which disables JavaScript and other features by default).
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I was sometimes blocked by some websites when I first tried to access them, as they marked me as a robot, which became disappointing.
Finally, using the tor as my primary browser for a week has been an eye -opening, especially how the current web scenario prevails. But when Tor made more understanding of oblivion and kept online trackers in the check, it also came with trade-off. I will not use the tor as my primary browser for anything, but I will keep it as my backup option for private browsing sessions.
