Overshare: My 24 Hours of Data Privacy

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

“No one knows you better than you know yourself.”

Madonna

While I see how it’s useful, this Madonna quote isn’t 100% true in the digital age. We’re all pretty familiar with our likes and dislikes, quirks, and ambitions, but today’s digital marketers have built an entire industry around knowing you better than you know yourself. This week, we’re looking at yet another 24 hours of my interaction with media, but through a completely different lens. The question: just how much data did I give up?

Before we begin, it’s important to remember that this isn’t just the information I purposefully shared throughout the day, like my Social Security number (more on that later), but rather what data was collected with or without my intent, through my internet use, smartphone data, and any other devices that siphon data off users. So with that in mind, day breaks…

5:30 am: Much to my dismay, my alarm goes off. I walk around my son, who is curled up next to our bed (he’s been having trouble sleeping) and get ready for work. I scroll a bit on Facebook and check out some headlines. I play a mobile game for a few minutes, but don’t really engage too much with my phone before heading in. I’m sure Facebook, my news apps, and my little Star Wars game know that I sometimes get up super early for work.

On the way into work, I listened to NPR for a few seconds, but ultimately turned it off to enjoy a bit of quiet since I really don’t get too much of that.

9:00 am: Lunch break. It’s been a heck of a morning and I’m ready to space out for 30. I host a weekly podcast about that little Star Wars game I mentioned earlier and my cohost and I are looking into branching out into streaming video as well. I do a bit of market research by studying some of the other streamers on Twitch and YouTube who cover the game, as well as just some of the biggest streamers to see what sets them apart. I play my game a bit and get back to work. Twitch is definitely still learning about me. I followed a couple new accounts and watched some videos from creators I hadn’t seen before. At this point, that’s probably not so bad since it’s going to train the app on what kinds of games and videos I like, which is useful for my purposes.

Throughout the day, I’m checking my email a lot. I’ve been applying to jobs and I’m excited to see if I have any responses. I’m also checking up on some letters of recommendation that a couple professors are writing for me. Nothing yet.

2:00 pm: On my way home, I listen to a story on NPR about China and India’s disputes over a bit of territory that China just started claiming as their own on maps. This has been going on for quite some time, but it’s heating up. It’s a footnote on a bigger piece about India’s representation at the G20 summit.

When I get home, I have precious little time to relax before the rest of the day kicks into gear. Thursdays are really something at my house. I play a couple games that I routinely play on my XBox and head out shortly thereafter.

3:30 pm: I pick the kids up from school and listen to Yo La Tengo – Essentials for the 400th time on Apple Music. The information I’m giving Apple by doing it again is pretty meaningless I’m guessing. They usually ride the bus, but today I’m taking them to a dentist appointment at 4:00, so we scoot across town, all listening to dad’s favorite indie band from the ’90’s.

4:30 pm: After the kids get done with their cleanings (no cavities!!!), I book an appointment for next week as a new patient, as our old dentist recently retired. The new patient process is a lot. I give them a bit of my personal info, my SSN, and contact info. From there, I receive a text message to complete my registration. Here goes nothing. I fill out the online form and it collects all of my information. Like, all of it. This is a professional service and I understand why it’s needed, but as I’m working on this assignment, I can’t help but think “I wonder how many of my classmates also dished out their SSN during this project?”

6:00pm: I take my son to his piano lesson. He goes in with his teacher for a half hour and plays while I enjoy a coffee in the lobby. I do some Google searches for streaming gear and startup tricks, thus supplying Google with some relatively fresh data about me and what my short term interests are. I save several items to an Amazon list and now the whole dark web knows what I want for Christmas. I also poke around a bit on Indeed, looking for journalism jobs near me. This is a search I’ve done plenty before, so Indeed knows it’s an interest of mine, but now they know I’m looking a bit more actively.

7:45 pm: When we get home, we grab a quick bite and he goes off to play while I do a homework assignment wherein I write copy for a Google Ads campaign. “Just flip the script,” I think to myself. “What kinds of stuff do I search for?” I finish the assignment just in time for my Thursday night podcast.

8:30 pm: While my cohost and I work on our show prep through a Google doc, we host a weekly Discord video chat with our supporters from Patreon. This week, only JJ shows up, which is nice because we haven’t heard from him in a while. We chat for a while as we fill out the notes and check the game’s official forums for update notes. My cohost is also nervously watching the NFL opening game with our Detroit Lions.

10:00 pm: After running a bit over on our patron chat, we record episode 358 of Galactic War Report. There aren’t a whole lot of updates this week, so we focus more on analyzing our gameplay progress and goals for the last week. I stay up for a couple more hours, editing and mixing the show, writing the description, and posting the episode.

12:00 am: I kind of skipped dinner, so I whip up some Ramen with an egg (because I’m a foodie) and play a few rounds of Rocket League on my XBox. A new season has just started, so there are a lot of new challenges and things to check out. I don’t know exactly what information they’re getting from me, but I play pretty late at night usually, so this is probably just more of the same I’m betting.

1:00 am: As I’m shutting things down to go to bed, my son gets up again. We go back and forth a bit as we always do and finally he curls up next to my bed again. Good night, bud.