When you watch a few videos on one topic, your entire feed seems to shift toward it overnight. After watching the YouTube video by Shoshana Zuboff on Surveillance Capitalism, I am personally disturbed about how our everyday digital habits are being monitored.
“Ghost Ads”
Before watching the documentary, I never really put much thought into how our movements are being tracked constantly online. Now, I am noticing something disturbing. Have you ever been talking about something around your phone, and over the next few days, you notice ads or videos pop up related to the topic? I have been noticing more and more of that happening to me. Even when I do actually search for something, I usually get very detailed, accurate ads related to what I just researched. It sometimes bothers me how invisible and accurate these suggestions are.
No Sense of Control
I feel as if most of us gain a sense of “I don’t even get to control my algorithm anymore.” I believe this because, for example, when I watch YouTube, I may come across a video I find very interesting. As you all know, when you click on a video, it gives you more video suggestions because of your algorithm. Instead of the recommended videos being related to the topic you just watched, the algorithm pushes other videos unrelated to the one you just watched. This creates that sense of “no control.”
The tradeoff
There is a positive side to this debate, though. When shopping, watching movies, videos, or searching for locations, the quick recommendations do make everything easier, and that is a fact. If you could think back to how many times you have been searching for something online and gotten a quick result because of your past searches, I fully believe that you would agree with my statement. Without all of these algorithm recommendations, we would be spending a lot more time on the web.
Conclusion
Overall, we are not just the users anymore; we are a part of the product. This surveillance will never go away; technology will only advance as the years go on. There are downsides to this surveillance, but there are also obvious upsides. However, the concern is not about how our data is being used; the true question is how much control we have over it. As of now, I can assure you that the control we have is minimal, and this control will only lessen as the years go on unless there is a major shift in people recognizing what is happening.
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