The death of private life in digital age

[Zalankhan]

I was staring at my phone earlier and realized how hypocritical my digital life has become. We spend all this time talking about privacy decentralization, and getting off the grid, yet I’m using a device that knows my heart rate, my exact location, and probably what I’m going to eat for dinner before I do. It’s like we’ve collectively agreed to trade our most personal data just for the sake of a slightly more convenient life. We want the freedom that tech gives us, but we’re paying for it with the very privacy we claim to value. Honestly, does anyone here actually feel like they have a Private life anymore, or have we just accepted that being part of modern society means being constantly tracked?

[Findingnemo]

The truth is most people traded their privacy for the little more convenience, while they carry a mindset that gives tham an illusion that they got privacy. Smartphones which got google o tracks us 24/7, it keeps track of everything and even it's proved that the device hear us our convesation and they call it as personalization while what actually happens is invasion of privacy.

But it's the people who traded their privacy over the long period of time and normalized getting tracked all the time.

Technically, you can still have a smartphone that doesn't have any tracking apps, such as Graphene or Lineage. While it's not just about switching OS, it needs a complete overhaul of our behavior while using the internet.

[KingsDen]

I was staring at my phone earlier and realized how hypocritical my digital life has become. We spend all this time talking about privacy decentralization, and getting off the grid, yet I’m using a device that knows my heart rate, my exact location, and probably what I’m going to eat for dinner before I do. It’s like we’ve collectively agreed to trade our most personal data just for the sake of a slightly more convenient life. We want the freedom that tech gives us, but we’re paying for it with the very privacy we claim to value. Honestly, does anyone here actually feel like they have a Private life anymore, or have we just accepted that being part of modern society means being constantly tracked?

It's very hard to maintain a private life when you are not conscious of it from the start. When I was new, o_e_l_e_o motivated me to live a private life, I tried for a while and understood that I cannot keep up.

Just yesterday I opened my Google map and began to study my movements around the city and it was done on me that my movement data is saved somewhere. Will I just stop using the map when I don't know the city very well.
Not only that, for security reasons, I have expensive live car tracker installed in my vehicle which monitors my movements, that is also controlled by another third party.

We lost it even from the womb, mother's have started showing their kids on the social media until they are born. It's alarming and concerning though.

[Accardo]

Global digitalization - digital IDs - Finger prints, sold out numerous confidential personal information to the online databases spread out all over the world. With the smart phones, people now have tracking IDs that easily finds where they're at the spot, unless not connected to the web. Social media is the big farm of data leakage, which a high amount of humans are laboring each day to freely give out more details about who they're to the world for cheap likes and engagements.

[BADecker]

Set up several identities for yourself. After all, you are who you say you are. Then, use them all in different ways. If 'they' can mess with you, mess with them right back.

[btc78]

it's the price to pay to be connected and to keep up with the rest of the world. you have the choice to shut people off and live on your own without all these devices but it's almost impossible. even for work, you need technological devices already. you need to keep connections. this is the world we live in and this is now the norm.

[Zalankhan]

The truth is most people traded their privacy for the little more convenience, while they carry a mindset that gives tham an illusion that they got privacy. Smartphones which got google o tracks us 24/7, it keeps track of everything and even it's proved that the device hear us our convesation and they call it as personalization while what actually happens is invasion of privacy.

But it's the people who traded their privacy over the long period of time and normalized getting tracked all the time.

Technically, you can still have a smartphone that doesn't have any tracking apps, such as Graphene or Lineage. While it's not just about switching OS, it needs a complete overhaul of our behavior while using the internet.

I totally get what you're saying Findingnemo. Graphene sounds great but honestly it’s that behavior overhaul that’s the killer.
The problem is that society is basically built to punish you if you don't use these tracking apps. I need Google Maps to get around and my bank's app probably won't even open on a custom OS. It feels like we’re forced to choose either have a private life and be an outcast or have a normal life and give up everything.

[Zalankhan]

Set up several identities for yourself. After all, you are who you say you are. Then, use them all in different ways. If 'they' can mess with you, mess with them right back.

Haha I love the idea  by using different identities but I honestly wonder if we even can anymore. With stuff like face scans and phone tracking it feels like the system knows who we are no matter what name we use. I’d like to think we can still outsmart them but I worry we’re just giving them even more data to link back to us.

[Zalankhan]

I was staring at my phone earlier and realized how hypocritical my digital life has become. We spend all this time talking about privacy decentralization, and getting off the grid, yet I’m using a device that knows my heart rate, my exact location, and probably what I’m going to eat for dinner before I do. It’s like we’ve collectively agreed to trade our most personal data just for the sake of a slightly more convenient life. We want the freedom that tech gives us, but we’re paying for it with the very privacy we claim to value. Honestly, does anyone here actually feel like they have a Private life anymore, or have we just accepted that being part of modern society means being constantly tracked?

It's very hard to maintain a private life when you are not conscious of it from the start. When I was new, o_e_l_e_o motivated me to live a private life, I tried for a while and understood that I cannot keep up.

Just yesterday I opened my Google map and began to study my movements around the city and it was done on me that my movement data is saved somewhere. Will I just stop using the map when I don't know the city very well.
Not only that, for security reasons, I have expensive live car tracker installed in my vehicle which monitors my movements, that is also controlled by another third party.

We lost it even from the womb, mother's have started showing their kids on the social media until they are born. It's alarming and concerning though.

I feel the same way. It’s frustrating because we use these tools for safety and to get around but the cost is our privacy. Like you said it’s hard to keep up when the world is designed to track us from day one. We’re all just stuck in the middle of it

[obuoma]

The moment you have a mobile phone and manages to create account on social media, you have sacrificed a reasonable amount of your private life. By default, our phones and applications in their forces us to reveal certain aspects of our lives before they can function effectively and you noticed that through the many permissions you are forced to grant before you can share files,  access some apps and even open social media accounts. We are living in a time where privacy can hardly be guaranteed no matter how hard we try.

[Findingnemo]

The truth is most people traded their privacy for the little more convenience, while they carry a mindset that gives tham an illusion that they got privacy. Smartphones which got google o tracks us 24/7, it keeps track of everything and even it's proved that the device hear us our convesation and they call it as personalization while what actually happens is invasion of privacy.

But it's the people who traded their privacy over the long period of time and normalized getting tracked all the time.

Technically, you can still have a smartphone that doesn't have any tracking apps, such as Graphene or Lineage. While it's not just about switching OS, it needs a complete overhaul of our behavior while using the internet.

I totally get what you're saying Findingnemo. Graphene sounds great but honestly it’s that behavior overhaul that’s the killer.
The problem is that society is basically built to punish you if you don't use these tracking apps. I need Google Maps to get around and my bank's app probably won't even open on a custom OS. It feels like we’re forced to choose either have a private life and be an outcast or have a normal life and give up everything.

We can get the convenience or the privacy but not the both at the same level. I get that banking apps don't work even when the developer mode is on which is to prevent the security threat but what about visiting the banks in realy and do our business there? Because we want things to be done instantly so that is the price we are paying for it.

We may not get a completely private life but little tweaks can give less tracking while enjoying the same level of convenience.

For search engines, use DuckDuckGo instead of Google.
For browser use Brave over Chrome.
F droid instead of play store.
Signal or telegram instead of whatsapp...