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...

[Ucy]

Sometimes it maybe an acceptable thing rather than a hypocrisy for a reformed pig to move into a swamp he was saved from to preach and convinced others pigs that live there that they live in very dirty environments and have to come out of it. This reformed pig will likely have a way to navigate the swamp without getting messed up.

We are ofcourse aware of what this devices are capable of, and the fact they can easily be used against their owners by the entity that controls it.
Unfortunately, most of the owners don't really care and may get very mad at you for trying to free them since they have become part of the system and its consciousness, and would even consider you as a threat to their existence. So they will work and scheme together to protect the system.

Ofcourse, an alternative for those who have become awakened and want to opt out would be one built by open source community and is capable of enforcing those rights and good ideals, similar to Bitcoin. And it's important to have a built in crime monitoring and accountability mechanism else it becomes a tool for criminals to do really evil things against societies  and then end up contributing to problems it was created to help solve.

[Jewan420]

When you seek the right convenience and more security, you have to sacrifice your privacy. Not only in digital devices, but if you want to keep two bodyguards for your security, then you have to sacrifice your privacy to those two bodyguards. Basically, the main value of security is privacy. The more you seek convenience and security, the more you suffer from insecurity and lack of privacy. Because, we forget that our main security is privacy.

If you want to roam in a new city, then you have to take the help of Google Maps or take the help of a guide. No matter what you do, your movement information will be with Google Maps or that guide. If you decide to shop at home, then information about your needs and preferences will be stored, information will also be stored on social media. Basically, we are now in an era where convenience is lacking in privacy and security.

[Franctoshi]

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?

You're right anyone that has a social media account has sold out their data except for those that haven't used any of the social media since their invention, if you used one or two social media platforms you've already sold your data indirectly. Because of tthe information you have fed thm complete their profiles.

[Iamgoat]

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?

Do we truly have anything like privacy in today's world since the coming of mobile devices especially these smartphones who have several chips in them which we do not even know ourselves their functions aside from what we are being told by the manufacturers. These phones have cameras which I believe can function even without us knowing, I also know they won't lack a way to grant access to look at you without you even noticing and also listening to your conversations when you don't even know.

[programmer3666]

These days we have traded a lot of our privacy for convenience. Phones and apps make life easier, but they also collect a lot of personal information about us. Take for example, when you use apps like Google Maps or Instagram, they track your location, what you search and even what you like. That’s why sometimes you just talk about something and suddenly you start seeing ads about it. So in a plain term, it’s like we still have some level of privacy, but not like before. Most people have just accepted it as part of living in a digital world.

[Marvelockg]

.. 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?

You can not fully embrace what the digital age brings and take out the place of deprivation of privacy from it. Most of our plans are first written down on our tablet before we even execute it and in some way, we repeat certain patterns that are traceable by most of the digital device we are using.

We've come to define privacy in a way that only bothers on our finances and most times we are mostly concerned about our security without knowing that we are dishing too much details about ourselves to the public. Funny thing is that we've gone too far in this that we can say that we are relatively late because even if you stop giving your private information to the public, the ones you've given out is already a big deal.

[Agbamoni]

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.

It is impossible to have total consciousness of how you share your private information through several media. But one thing we can do is to control it, limit how we share those inforation knowingly or unknowingly. Life can happen to anyone who wants to stay private, he wont know when, because of that event that occurred, his information will be leaked. The other night, I tried investing in some random stock, but for you to use the app, you must share your information, so how do you go about this? Will you avoid investing in a better future because you want to stay private? Sometimes a life event leaves us with no option.