Privacy

Every day I spend time online, whether it be because of school, fun, or just trying to stay informed. Due to all of these, Social media is a big part of my life because, in part, my future job will revolve around public opinion and demand. Things like Instagram, Meta (Facebook), and Twitter are not just used to show off but it a way for me to connect and understand the world around me better.

It's kind of crazy to think tho the amount of power some companies have over you just because you clicked a box and made an account. Contract of adhesion to me was a new thing to think about due to it is just so easy to click yes move on but now that I know more about it I now stop thinking should I click the box what am doing by just clicking a box. This small thing affects me and others around me because we don't have the power when posting or viewing Meta, Ingram, and Twitter. This makes it hard to crack down on things like data mining where companies gather as much data on a consumer as they can to target them to buy or do things. This data leads to behavioral marketing to really key in on what you could or do like to buy more.

An example I have is a planned and made a Meepo board ad during the time I was looking at youtube videos, the store pages, and other items that could help me better understand the company. Once I was finished everywhere I went online had an ad for Meepo. I would be looking up something completely different but there it was each time an ad for Meepo. It is because of this lack of power and mass marketing it makes it hard for us consumers to not buy something even if we know we don't want it because we become exposed to it everywhere. It gets even more dangerous when places like the government gett involved with third-party doctrines where they go to private companies which have our data and make deals for it to allow them to compete with their own agenda.

This creates a fear that every click we take every search we make is being watched and it's being tracked. How can we stop this invasion of privacy well it starts with a VPN a virtual private network software that helps hid your IP so companies have a harder time tracking down your specific data Other ways to stop tracking are DuckDuckGo which does not track your browser unlike companies like Google with Google Chrome. These small steps can help better protect you and your personal data but it starts with you wanting to be and stay private.