Avionics Safety & Reliability Engineer - UNF Data Science bootcamp participant.
Other interests: Good books 📚 | Digital Art 🎨 | Languages 🇫🇷
It seems everything goes in cycles. I feel like prior to the prevalence of the internet and social media, there was a lot of emphasis on privacy (at least here in the US).
With the boom of the internet & social media, we also began to share more of ourselves and our personal lives online. At first, sharing seemed liberating because it gave the regular person the opportunity to find like-minded people, build a platform, and make an impact quicker than before. Additionally, the internet spaces that were created felt safe and intimate; we were sharing with friends and family (or members of shared hobbies/identities). I don't think the average person really accounted for the digital paper trail that gets left behind or foresaw how their private moments could be exploited for financial gain or nefarious purposes.
I think the desire for and migration to smaller, more private spaces is a return to old values in a sense. After a while, people get tired of worrying about their online safety, being marketed to, and falling for the illusions of advertisers and influencers. It'll be interesting to see how things shake out.
Thanks for writing! Seeing your comment totally makes my day too! 😀
Haha, this day and age, it often feels like I'm just blogging into the void. So when someone takes the time to actually compose a thoughtful response, it honestly blows my mind a little (in a good way!) and is a pleasant surprise. 🥳
I totally agree with you though. I think the first generation (2000-2020; this includes me!) were the "digitally clueless." Now though, tweens and children are "digital natives" and so savvy with all this stuff. They've probably all installed ad-blockers already and don't even know what a YouTube ad actually is. (Only the olds see ads anymore, I think.) And moving forward, I'm pretty certain VPN technology is actually gonna get built into browsers by default. So totally anonymous browsing will become ubiquitous (which is why there's such a mad rush to apps, especially on phones and tablets).
Thanks for sharing your take though! I know in Europe with GDPR, they're cracking down on privacy even more. And China is essentially its own entire universe. Essentially, I think the dream of "one digital world" is slowly coming to an end. Of course, you'll always have Reddit and other supernational entities where people enjoy mixing and mingling. But increasingly, China (and India, and every other "internet-mature" country) of course want to reign supreme over their own digital landscape. Why on earth would Indians want to grant an American company like FB or Amazon digital supremacy within their own borders? It'd be total madness to just blithely let all those bajillions of dollars flow to some foreign company/national power. We actually already saw this play out a bit last year with the whole TikTok fiasco. It took a while but national borders have finally arrived in internet-land!
PS. Btw, thank you for joining the study group! So thrilled to have you onboard! 🎉
We're on our way! Also-- this morning I went ahead and updated our study group members list. Three spots left!
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It seems everything goes in cycles. I feel like prior to the prevalence of the internet and social media, there was a lot of emphasis on privacy (at least here in the US).
With the boom of the internet & social media, we also began to share more of ourselves and our personal lives online. At first, sharing seemed liberating because it gave the regular person the opportunity to find like-minded people, build a platform, and make an impact quicker than before. Additionally, the internet spaces that were created felt safe and intimate; we were sharing with friends and family (or members of shared hobbies/identities). I don't think the average person really accounted for the digital paper trail that gets left behind or foresaw how their private moments could be exploited for financial gain or nefarious purposes.
I think the desire for and migration to smaller, more private spaces is a return to old values in a sense. After a while, people get tired of worrying about their online safety, being marketed to, and falling for the illusions of advertisers and influencers. It'll be interesting to see how things shake out.
I enjoyed reading your take on it.
Hi Anita!
Thanks for writing! Seeing your comment totally makes my day too! 😀
Haha, this day and age, it often feels like I'm just blogging into the void. So when someone takes the time to actually compose a thoughtful response, it honestly blows my mind a little (in a good way!) and is a pleasant surprise. 🥳
I totally agree with you though. I think the first generation (2000-2020; this includes me!) were the "digitally clueless." Now though, tweens and children are "digital natives" and so savvy with all this stuff. They've probably all installed ad-blockers already and don't even know what a YouTube ad actually is. (Only the olds see ads anymore, I think.) And moving forward, I'm pretty certain VPN technology is actually gonna get built into browsers by default. So totally anonymous browsing will become ubiquitous (which is why there's such a mad rush to apps, especially on phones and tablets).
Thanks for sharing your take though! I know in Europe with GDPR, they're cracking down on privacy even more. And China is essentially its own entire universe. Essentially, I think the dream of "one digital world" is slowly coming to an end. Of course, you'll always have Reddit and other supernational entities where people enjoy mixing and mingling. But increasingly, China (and India, and every other "internet-mature" country) of course want to reign supreme over their own digital landscape. Why on earth would Indians want to grant an American company like FB or Amazon digital supremacy within their own borders? It'd be total madness to just blithely let all those bajillions of dollars flow to some foreign company/national power. We actually already saw this play out a bit last year with the whole TikTok fiasco. It took a while but national borders have finally arrived in internet-land!
PS. Btw, thank you for joining the study group! So thrilled to have you onboard! 🎉
We're on our way! Also-- this morning I went ahead and updated our study group members list. Three spots left!