Online Assignments 4 & 5
Sydney Heyler
J201- Section 310
I found
this assignment to be very insightful and eye opening. It was interesting and quite surprising to
learn how much information the Internet has collected about me over the years. Every time you enter a search into Google or
post something on Facebook, you don’t consider the fact that it’s being
documented and used for other purposes.
Every minute detail has been stored in some way.
Despite entering almost no personal
information about myself on my Google profile, Google seemed to know
plenty. Google knew my age group, the
fact that I am studying Spanish, many of my interests and more. There wasn’t anything listed that I can’t say
describes me to at least some degree. I
was rather impressed and slightly troubled by the accuracy of it all. I can’t help but feel slightly “watched” over
the years as I utilized Google; it was an important thing to be brought to my
attention. You can’t be ignorant of the
fact that nothing that you do on the Internet is private. The fact that Google can utilize this
information to target advertisements at its users is quite simply genius. I now know that if I see an advertisement for
American Football or a travel website it’s because Google knows these are interests
of mine and is fully utilizing their data.
I can’t say I blame them, but I can’t say it makes me totally
comfortable either.
My Facebook
data was also very interesting to explore.
The information that Facebook had was a bit less shocking since much of
it was based on what I have entered/updated on my profile over the years. What was surprising was the amount of information Facebook had. I was able to find content about my life from
years ago, things that I have completely forgotten about. It’s amazing to see that Facebook knows your
history better than you do. Facebook
doesn’t forget that status posted in 2008 or the private message conversations
from the ninth grade. It has all been
documented, recorded and saved forever.
While the thought of that is interesting it is also a bit unsettling to
think that a website might just know you better than you know yourself. Absolutely nothing that you do online is
private, and nothing, no matter how many years ago it was, is forgotten.
This
assignment has definitely shifted how I view my Internet usage. We truly live in a digital society, where
nothing is private, and much is known about you without your knowledge. It was so interesting to see this information
brought to my attention and to bear in mind that every time I click my mouse,
enter a Google search or post a Facebook status, it is being monitored,
recorded and tracked. While I will not
drastically change my Internet behaviors, I will still keep these thoughts in
mind going forward. The digital society
is a powerful world and deserves respect for the knowledge it has and influence
it exerts.
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