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I have had nearly the opposite experience, for what it's worth. Long conversations with non-technical family members about the pervasiveness of tracking and sur
by ever1337 4y ago
I have had nearly the opposite experience, for what it's worth. Long conversations with non-technical family members about the pervasiveness of tracking and surveillance. A lot of them share my hatred for social media platforms and identify the 'correct' (in my opinion) issues with these platforms (pseudo-quantification of opinion via like buttons instead of nuanced interactions, mercurial algorithms tailored to individuals destroying any sense of shared reality, etc.).
Of course, none of them will actually take the leap and leave these platforms as I have, but I think people are willing to actually recognize these issues. Just depends on who they are. Maybe if you're talking with people you could talk about how this surveillance isn't just used for ads, that the data collected by advertisers is purchased by law enforcement agencies to circumvent legal requirements for warrants, that the police (in the US) with zero oversight can track your every movement via these databases, in open contravention of the spirit of the laws that "regulate" them.
Also, I think that the corpo line that surveillance results in "better" ads is simply untrue. I've heard so many people complain about irrelevant ads being served to them. I think there is a growing group of people who feel insulted by the shallow way they are typecast by these ads. A family member who is a carpenter who gets advertised consumerist "manly" products comes to mind. Because ultimately they are not serving you what you want, they are serving you what you are statistically most likely to click on. And at least most people I have asked, have never even clicked on an Instagram or Facebook ad. So the ads presented to "you" are really being presented to a consumerist ad-clicker alternate reality version of you, it is a fundamental disconnect. I think the value advertisers gain from increased "engagement" on ads is increasingly being paid for in the form of alienation of the kinds of people who will simply never respond to this kind of advertising.