> Let's say there are 100 kids in a school. You have $2000 dollars and you give fifty of them 3 packs of cigarettes and the other fifty Echo Dots. You follow t

> Let's say there are 100 kids in a school. You have $2000 dollars and you give fifty of them 3 packs of cigarettes and the other fifty Echo Dots. You follow them fifty years. You predict that the ones with Echo Dots will have worse lives than the ones with the cigarettes? Yes. I believe that this social media phenomenon will have even greater negative impact than even tobacco does. And yes, I accept the mountains of research of how dangerous tobacco is. I think this data gathering of everything and everyone will amount to worse than even tobacco. The trends I'm extrapolating and see, even from 2012-2019, shows me that the voluminous mounds of data we leave is 'toxic'. Things people have said even earlier on have come back to seriously bite people hard. And we're seeing the old power upended for what amounts to mob rule. Except, this mob isn't a group of 30 people, but instead is millions filling the air with hate and bile. The real toxicity of this data isn't mob rule though. Mob rule is quick and firey, and dies down. It's from long-term data acquisition from sensors we traditionally thought to be innocuous, sales data from credit cards, grocery stores, and similar, vehicle sensors, cheaper health detection checks (but not cheaper health), DNA classification, social media of all types, and more. Whomever controls all that data can make more informed opinions about people than the people themselves can. The mound of that could be used to determine who gets best health, the best jobs, ability to run for office, who gets loans and for how much, and more. Just controlling the money and who gets the best health treatment then determines longevity. Now obviously, this data has been collected for some time. However, it's only been since mid 2000's did we regularly carry dumb cell phones. 2012 was that magical year in which full stack smartphones (computers with a range of sensors) were introduced and really 'stuck'. Yes, there was blackberry, windows phone 6, and a few others, but they didn't win like apple/google did. This data, and the cultures of the USA, I believe will entrench a caste-like system. And data will be the ever-present threat. I know when I was in elementary and middle school, there was always this threat of "it will go on your (booming voice) permanent record". Yeah, sure, but not really. In hindsight, the permanent record is much wider than that; my medical history, my education, my comments that ive said semi-privately on the internet, text messages, google services, my cell phone, etc. I know because of the ACA and pre-existing conditions amendment that my diabetes diagnosis isn't a 'no more insurance forever' sentence. But the rest? I don't see my data being good for me in nearly any way.