Big Data is Watching You
Written by Aiman Khan
Thumbnail Photo by Bermix Studio on Unsplash
In his classic novel, 1984, George Orwell describes a society under constant surveillance with limited free speech and civil liberties. The eponymous big brother (the political party figurehead of the imaginary nation of Oceania) never materializes but citizens are consistently reminded that their actions will never go unnoticed.
As we enter into an age of advanced technology, we seem to have outstripped Orwell in his own domain. Today, there is no one big brother that explicitly reminds us they’re watching. After all, surveillance technology is no longer limited to the capacity of a governmental tool. Driven by the wheels of capitalism, hypervigilance on the part of corporations has entered into a new and growing market that is forever hungry for consumer data - and which seems to have progressed beyond the need for full disclosures. Unfortunately for us, the reality may already be far more covert and insidious than Orwell’s dystopia.
A Global Addiction
While China and South Korea have both identified internet addiction as a public health threat, the Western world is still hesitant to make any sweeping declarations. There is no denying that the internet is pervasive at all levels of society today, and for good reason. But while the advances brought about by the internet are innumerable, the addiction potential is also quite high – especially in adolescents and young adults. With a world of information and interconnectedness at our fingertips, it’s no surprise that novelty-seeking social creatures like ourselves are now hooked to our screens.
While the internet may be addictive as a by-product of its own ingenuity, social media apps today are certainly manufactured to alter our behaviour and keep us engaged. You might have watched the 2020 Netflix documentary, The Social Dilemma, that deals with the topic.
In order to make more money, or for their stock prices to go up, it’s essential for app developers that we use these apps as much as possible. The business model itself is based on maximum user engagement, which obviously pushes app designers to incorporate as many addictive qualities in these apps as their knowledge in human psychology will allow. As a result, habit-forming features have been developed like the ‘infinite scroll’ designed by Mozilla employee Aza Raskin (discussed more below), or the use of positive intermittent reinforcement like the pull-to-refresh that we see in another addiction hotspot: slot machines at casinos. This is another reason why most of our popular social media feeds like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok are entirely bottomless, so you’re encouraged to keep on scrolling. YouTube and Netflix also take advantage of this in their auto-play feature, so it’s easier for you to keep watching rather than the screen going blank at the end of the video.
The interactions on social media are also poised to take advantage of our innate need for social validation. We have a multitude of dopamine triggers in the form of likes, shares, comments, and private messaging which prompts us to return for more. Gamification (the application of game principles in non-game contexts) in the form of scores and streaks like in Snapchat can also serve as driving factors in engagement.
According to Mr. Raskin, "It's as if they're taking behavioural cocaine and just sprinkling it all over your interface…Behind every screen on your phone, there are (…) literally a thousand engineers that have worked on this thing to try to make it maximally addicting."
Photo by Luke Chesser on Unsplash
Big Data and Surveillance Capitalism
So why does it matter to developers that we stay engaged forever? As Bruce Schnier, a computer security specialist and author of several books on cybersecurity, puts it, “The primary business model of the internet is built on mass surveillance.” It all boils down to advertising.
Google’s AdWords gave advertising companies a first glimpse at the possibilities of commodifying consumer data (by auctioning off specific keywords typed in by users to the highest bidding, high-quality advertisers). Ever since then, companies have been racing to compete for our attention, and consequently, mine our data. Companies are buying our data and using it for purposes that are entirely up to their own machinations, and we are generally none the wiser to it. The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica story exposed the sleazy psychological manipulations that are part-and-parcel of large tech companies that have data on a diverse user base at their disposal. Luring in users with a personality quiz, the aim was to harvest the information of both the users themselves and those close to them. Since 270,000 people took part in the quiz, it has been estimated that data on around 50 million users was gathered without their consent. This data was then allegedly sold to Cambridge Analytica which used the data to profile people and deliver curated material to them online to help Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign. Exposés of the like are the exception, not the norm, in a truly shady world of underhanded dealings.
With the power of data being able to influence political outcomes, it should come as no surprise that many believe we are soon to be entering into a ‘corporatocracy’ where corporate interests shape politics and public life. Whether that’s true or not, we’ll be able to figure it out in a few years’ time. At the moment, however, there is no denying that consumer data accumulation is the reality of the market, and predictive analytics with the help of machine learning might allow these companies to know our personalities – and therefore, our buying patterns – better than we know ourselves.
So What Can We Do?
Knowing that our social media apps are vying to sell our time and attention should be a wake-up call in itself. After all, we ultimately decide what power we want to give to these algorithms. While data collection is built into pretty much everything that we do on the internet and to a level that we might not even fully realize now, some practices that can help are:
Limiting the use of apps
Using VPNs like Nord or Express VPN
Using alternative search engines like DuckDuckGo or Qwant that can help you leave the filter bubble of personalized content
Avoiding clickbait material
Turning off recommendations whether that’s on your browser, YouTube or Facebook
Turning off notifications from social media apps so you’re not sucked back in every time the apps realize you’re off your phone.
The power of social media and the internet today is unquestionable. In a society driven by consumerism and individualization, we need to be careful not to allow new technology – however advanced – to infringe on our basic privacy rights. Whether you believe in the power of Big Data and its consequences is up to you, but it never hurts to know the full story.
References:
https://theconversation.com/the-price-of-connection-surveillance-capitalism-64124
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44640959
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44640959