Our addictions in the digital age and privacy

4 min readSep 1, 2019

Technology, in fact, is amazing. If we look at our evolution, from prehistoric artifacts to our current technology, we will notice a big change. And this transformation is still happening every day, and more quickly a new discovery, a new technology and a new addiction.

Addicted and connected

Yes, addictions. Addictions are repetitive habits that degenerate or harm the addict and generally those who live with him. Hardly the question to ask a person in this digital age would not be “Are you addicted to something?” and yes “What are you addicted to?”.

People can be addicted to the most common things like drinking, gambling, drugs, sex or even things that we “don’t realize” in our daily lives such as using their computer, smartphone, tablet, smart tv. Generally speaking, we can say that most are addicted to the internet and the need to be connected.

But is it bad? in my opinion yes, but it is inevitable. We see it from kids to teens already connected on the internet. Whether it’s dating, or having lunch outside the home, in fact, everywhere, we see people fiddling with their smartphones, enjoying their online lives.

Online privacy?

The problem is that we have a price to pay for living in the connected world. Our privacy is something to think about. Especially when it comes to the emergence of social networks. If you use Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, among other apps, there is a possibility that these companies know more about you than you might think..

In fact, we are being spied on all the time by any relatively large company or government. According to some of the leaked documents by Edward Snowden, the United States collects information from various people around the world through various surveillance programs such as PRISM.

But, I don’t want to dig into that much. Getting back to online privacy is possible, but becoming an isolated person in a connected world is social suicide. But, what about your circle of friends? relatives? Everyone is involved in social networks and has their data shared with large companies. Would you stop talking to them to live your private utopian world online?

The product is us

Your likes on posts, your searches on search engines, your friendships on social networks. Everything can be tracked and analyzed as a way of profiling your person or consumer profile. This way, your data can be sold directly or indirectly to advertisers, who could more accurately target their products to potential consumers.

“If we are not paying customers, we are the product sold”

Chances are you have read the terms of service of the social network or your favorite messaging application. If not, it is worth a look because probably if it is free then what is being used as a product is our data. The ads shown are directed to our profile based on our data.

Fortunately we have alternatives that make it possible to have greater privacy on the internet for those who see the need for it. Whether through anonymous browsers like Tor, non-crawling browsers like DuckDuckGo, email providers like Tutanota or ProtonMail, using VPN you can also mask your steps online. There are also messenger apps that work with real end-to-end encryption like Signal, or use blockchain like DMME.

What is DMME?

DMME is a messenger application that uses blockchain technology and encryption to work. This is focused on security, anonymity and total user control over their contacts, allowing them to be authorized or blocked. You do not need to use a phone number to register, you will not be tracked. The application will be paid, after all will have no ads and part of each subscription will be given back in ethereum to the community, which will be implemented in the future. Read more about here.