I Can Predict Your Next Move

Okay, maybe I can’t predict your EXACT next move, but big tech companies can sure get close. In America, every company seeks the much-traded dollar bill. Some companies try to get this glorified piece of paper through honest practices, while other companies do whatever is necessary to obtain as much money as possible. You would think that the companies using dishonest practices would be penalized in some sort of way, but I can assure you the situation is quite the opposite. Big technology companies, such as Amazon or Facebook have an interest in tracking as much information as possible about you because it helps them adapt to make you spend more time on their app, to know what you like to target specific ads at you to generate more revenue, and to sell your data to other companies that can stand to benefit from your information.

Although I admit that some people can handle the addiction to social media a lot better than others, I can promise you the technology companies do not make it easy for anyone once downloaded. Forget about trying to set a productive daily limit for yourself. These companies pretend to offer you autonomy on the ability to choose your daily limit but on February 21st, 2022, Instagram silently changed the minimum time you could limit yourself on the app from ten minutes to thirty minutes, in response to Instagram’s low earnings report. Now someone who usually limits themselves to ten minutes on the app now must waste an additional twenty minutes a day, on the app that they did not want to be on for longer than ten minutes. Sure, one can tell themselves, “I just won’t go on the app as much”. Is it really that easy though? According to healthline, dopamine is released into your brain every time you log in to your favorite social media app. Your positive experiences and interactions with the app continue to allow you to release dopamine as you use the app. And when your dopamine runs out, what do you think your body does to try to release more dopamine? You go right back to your favorite social media app to “replenish”. In the book, “Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy”, the author, Siva Vaidhyanathan, agrees, “Nonetheless, Facebook manipulates us. Every aspect of its design is meant to draw us back to the row of images and emotions that constitute the News Feed on our Facebook pages”. (Vaidhyanathan, 35)As also mentioned in the book, I don’t think these companies have all evil intentions and some of their goals, such as to connect the world together, are valid. Still, that doesn’t mean that is their primary goal.

Have you ever looked up something you can purchase (or maybe a service) and an ad on a social media platform appeared within the same day? Coincidence? Nope. Everything you do on the web is tracked and is associated with your “profile”. Companies try to complete as much as your “profile” as possible. This way, they know what you like, what you don’t like, and more importantly, what you want to spend money on. Some companies, like Google, even pretend to be on your side by offering you, the individual, the ability to make your own money by putting up your own ads. Sure, we live in a capitalist society so ads in moderation may contribute to our economy, but excess of information on any individual is egregious and is pure selfishness. Knowing a little about someone to know their general interests is the ideal scenario, not having what an individual likes down to a tee.

What’s better than one company having all your information? What about hundreds and maybe thousands of companies and even individuals with all your data. Data is one of the most valuable assets in today’s society. With how widely available a lot of data is though, sharing data with others with the same goal is a common strategy in the capitalist-driven America we live in. Although it is scary to think of all the things these companies with many resources can do with your data, it unfortunately only scratches the surface. According to Geoffrey Fowler of the Washington Post, many of the extensions you download from your browsers like Chrome help you complete tasks more completely, but with a major cost. When you download an extension and enable it, you give the people who made the extension to track your movements online. Now along with companies with major resources having your data, smaller organizations or even individuals have your data as well. No matter what you try to do, without more regulations to stop data tracking, the situation will only continue to get worse.

Technology companies know more about you than anyone else — more than your friends, more than your family, and crazily enough, more than you know about yourself. They track all of your movements online, with the purpose of trying to identify just who you really are, to maximize their efforts in getting you to use their platforms and engage in purchasing items. They don’t really care about your health and well-being however, as long as you continue to use their apps so they profit.