Easily Hide Your Year of Birth (And Your Age) On Facebook

It is a sign of our times that we are more known by our digital identities than our real ones these days. Digital identity theft is a clear and present danger. Facebook is a digital home for many of us, and we have looked at various ways to ensure that the front door is locked and secure. From

hiding status updates and photos

to

warding off strangers

, and then to even setting up a

Facebook ‘burglar alarm’

, Facebook despite all intents and purposes can be turned into a fortress.

One of the tiniest details we sometimes overlook as part of our digital persona is the year of birth and consequently our real age. No, I am not being bashful about it. Hiding your age on Facebook has a few real-world implications that are easily overlooked.

Why Should I Hide My Real Age On Facebook? 5 Reasons…

1. The year of birth and thus the age is a data. The data could be a potential target of identity theft by online stalkers, scamsters, and hackers.
2. It is a filter on many people search engines. For online anonymity, you would want to remove it from Facebook.
3. Creating a good virtual identity separate from your real one requires you to hide as many details as possible. Your age is one of them.
4. Headhunters use social media like Facebook to scan for profiles. If age is a barrier to earn a place on the interviewee’s chair, hide it.
5. Age is just a number, but you would like to keep it to yourself. Thank you please!

Here’s How to go back to the Year of Your Birth & Remove It

Thankfully, you don’t have to hack into Facebook to hide your age. It’s all there in the personal settings and your About information.

1. Go to your Facebook Profile page and click on About or Update Info. Both take you to the same personal information page.

2. Browse to the Basic Info section on the right, and click on Edit.

3. Use the dropdown under Birthday to reveal the three choices available.

• Show my full birthday on my timeline.
• Show only month & day on my timeline.
• Don’t show my birthday on my timeline.

The three choices are pretty much self-explanatory. You can opt for either of the last two to ensure a modicum of privacy. My recommendation would be to select Show only month & day on my timeline. You wouldn’t want to miss out on all the birthday wishes would you?

4. Drop down and click on Save and you are done.

5. Facebook gives you more control over your privacy by letting you choose who to make your birthday information visible to. Click on the gear icon to display the options available as you can see in the screen below.

I usually keep the full birthday open to close friends. If you have set up Facebook friends list, you can choose that to fine-tune your privacy.

Going paranoid over your year of birth and age might seem like overkill. But it pays to know that there are ways to lock it down from prying eyes. What do you think? Is age just a number or a data in the socially open times we live in?