I remember when there were no cellphones and my uncle had to have regular security sweeps of the house for bugs as mandated by his bank. Once cell phones came and he became an investor and director at a cellphone company, all of those things didn’t matter to him anymore.
Before encrypted conversations on WhatsApp, I feared SMS more than phone calls on cell phones because they were stored before being forwarded. Many people don’t also realize how much information smartphones keep about them and aren’t even bothered when they know. It helps them.
Without Google knowing your movements, they can’t accurately tell that there is traffic congestion ahead or warn others of congestion where you are located. I remember someone pitching me that exact solution years before Google Maps launched. I would rather trust Google instead.
Convenience and utility now trumps the need to be secretive or protect privacy. I am much more wary of someone who has no digital footprint than the person who does. Privacy is no longer the virtue people think it is. What is important is your ability to control what is shared.
Privacy narcissism is real. Anytime I hear someone who has nothing worth protecting boast that they don’t use social media, I look at them weird. There are many who don’t use it because they really have something to protect. I don’t ever post identity details of my kids online.
It will be their choice to do that. I am sure they won’t even want to be associated with me in any way. My son can’t wait to play games on Twitch or whatever iteration exists when he is a teenager. That will be his prerogative.
All I teach my kids now is what to share and what not to share. As much as I share online, there are details about myself like birth date and others that I keep private because of identity theft. The problem is that the government has all of that too and they aren’t even secure.
