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Digital basics checklist

A few boring habits.

Keeping your important stuff less available to random nonsense. Nothing to type in, nothing to save here — print it or download a blank copy and work through it privately.

Keep your private details private. This checklist doesn't need them — don't write account names, passwords, recovery codes, banking details, or card numbers into a worksheet you might leave somewhere.

No account, no email, and nothing to fill in here. Print it or download a blank copy and complete it privately — Leave Early doesn't need a copy.

Leave Early · worksheet

Digital basics checklist

A few boring habits for keeping your important stuff less available to random nonsense.

A checklist to work through at your own pace, offline. Keep your private details private — this checklist doesn't need them.

1. Pause

The habits that give you room to think before you act on a message.

  • • Slow down when a message creates urgency.
  • • Check the sender by another route, not the one they gave you.
  • • Decide in advance that you don't have to answer immediately.

2. Verify

Where you'd check something, and how you'd check it without using the contact details in the message.

  • • Save official websites and numbers yourself, ahead of time.
  • • Type the address yourself instead of tapping a link.
  • • Ask someone else to read the message with fresh eyes.

3. Protect access

Habits that make your accounts harder to borrow.

  • • Different passwords for the things that matter most.
  • • Two-step verification where it's offered.
  • • A recovery option you can actually get to.

4. Share less than you think you need to

Where you'd like to be more deliberate about what you hand over, and to whom.

  • • Information people ask for casually.
  • • Details in public profiles.
  • • How much you post while you're away.

5. If something happened

The order you'd work through if you clicked, paid, or shared something.

  • • Contact the real organization through a channel you found yourself.
  • • Change the password for the account involved.
  • • Tell your bank or card issuer if money moved.
  • • Report it through the official national reporting pathway.

6. Official contacts to save offline

Write down the official reporting and support contacts you'd want without a search.

Official Canadian resources

This worksheet is for general education. Complete it privately and store it somewhere appropriate for you.

This resource is not a guarantee of safety or a substitute for emergency services, individualized support, legal advice, medical care, or official local instructions.

Leave Early · Version 1.0 · September 2026

Awkward is cheaper than unsafe.