In the beginning, convenience felt harmless.
When I first started using social media, I didn’t think much about passwords. I wasn’t careless I was being practical. Using the same password for all my accounts made life easier. One password to remember. No stress. No confusion.
It felt efficient.
And honestly, I thought, “At least I won’t forget it.”
What I didn’t understand then was that convenience quietly trades comfort for risk.
When Convenience Feels Smart….Until It Isn’t
Using one password everywhere worked… until it didn’t.
When my Google account was taken over, the process of getting it back was long and exhausting. Emails. Verifications. Waiting. Proving ownership again and again. It took time, patience, and persistence before I finally recovered it.
That experience alone was sobering.
But when my Facebook page was taken over, I made a different decision. I didn’t fight for it the same way. I simply started again and built a new one from scratch.
Not because it didn’t matter but because the cost of recovery felt heavier than starting over.
Both experiences taught me something I had ignored before.
Convenience Creates Single Points of Failure
The problem with convenience is not that it is wrong it is that it concentrates risk.
One password across multiple platforms means one mistake opens many doors. Once that password is exposed, everything connected to it becomes vulnerable.
I didn’t fully understand this until I lived through the recovery process.
It was during that time resetting access, securing accounts, rebuilding that the importance of passwords finally became clear to me.
Security Is Designed to Be Inconvenient for a Reason
Security slows you down on purpose.
Multiple passwords.
Verification steps.
Authentication codes.
All of these things feel inconvenient because they interrupt ease. But that interruption is intentional. It exists to protect you during moments when convenience would otherwise cost you everything.
Attackers depend on ease.
Security depends on friction. And most people are not patient, we are always in a hurry.
What Changed for Me
After those experiences, I stopped prioritising convenience over protection.
I began to see passwords not as obstacles, but as boundaries. I understood that the slight discomfort of managing them properly was nothing compared to the stress of losing access and control over my digital life.
Convenience had taught me comfort.
Security taught me responsibility.
Final Thought
Convenience feels good in the moment.
Security protects you in the long run.
Most security failures don’t happen because people are reckless they happen because people choose what feels easiest.
And sometimes, the easiest choice is the most expensive one.
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I write about human-centred cybersecurity, risk, and career transitions.
