Post Nine: Privacy

My mom says about five times a day “they’re listening to us“. I think we’ve all felt this way at some point in time as we seem to talk or think about something and hours later, we’re bombarded with ads and content related to the thing we spoke about. It’s creepy and it feels like a violation, but it’s real. And I’m convinced that this is only the beginning and we are probably being tracked on the Internet in more ways than we can even begin to understand.

Whether it be from businesses trying to market and sell us their products to national or foreign government agencies trying to invade our personal data, I believe little privacy currently exists on the internet. 

This problem stems from society’s reliance on technology and the Internet. I took a really interesting course my freshman year of college. It was my first-year seminar focused on whether or not the American dream was still attainable in the modern world. We studied the concept of off the grid living and it was incredibly fascinating. 

Choosing to live in this way is a completely different way of life, but these are the people that refused to have a government or other interference in their lives and rejected the amenities brought forth through modern technologies. 

An article I read stated that 60% of United States adults believe it is impossible to go through daily life without having data collected online. That is insane. We are aware that it’s happening but we continue on without fighting it. Scary!

A few years back, I decided to give up social media for an entire month. At the time, I thought I was using it way too much and it would be a good way to get more connected with real life and ground myself in the present moment without being consumed by my media usage and overwhelmed by comparison in the negative effects that social media can bring. It was hard, but I stayed committed and made it the entire month without using social media. I will admit that in some ways it was freeing but outweighing this benefit were some drastic cons: I missed out on so much. I realize that I rely on Instagram and Facebook to keep me connected to the world, to my friends, to communication. I was so anxious not being able to access social media, but I approach that month thinking the lack of social media usage would alleviate so much of my anxiety. I think I was equally anxious because neither one leads to much peace. As with all things, I learned the importance of balance and attempted to move forward applying more balance to my technology and social media usage. We probably need to revisit this, but it was a valuable experience nonetheless. 

Complacency is the demise of society. We are aware of the threat to our personal freedom and the right to privacy, we are too complacent to fight it and we are too dependent on the benefits of the internet to protest. 

Read the article I referenced for some interesting insights: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/11/15/americans-and-privacy-concerned-confused-and-feeling-lack-of-control-over-their-personal-information/