In the year 2022, technology is fundamentally built into our lives. There is no escaping it, from our smartphones to our watches, laptops, tablets, and fridges. Technology is great—people can instantly message one another and track where they have been, what they have eaten, and their sleep schedule. It has even gotten so advanced that people do not need to carry debit or credit cards—they can use Apple Pay or Google Wallet right from their phones.
However, I believe technology has come to a point where it is too convenient. People don’t even have to type in their password anymore to unlock their phones or pay for things; it is either run through facial recognition, or you can use your fingerprint.
While yes, it makes life easier for everyone, what does that say about humans? I believe we rely a little too much on technology, especially in recent years because technology can track everything we do. I don’t think people understand or fully grasp the concept.
Whenever you click on a web page, like a post, or save a video, that is all monitored.. Technology has gotten so advanced that ads, websites, and social media are becoming personalized to you in minutes.
Doesn’t that sound concerning at all? Just by doing a few simple things, technology can instantly know what we like, dislike, and what we want to see more of, and what we don’t. This is just the new normal now. Technology has gotten so good that it knows almost everything about you.
One of my professors discussed the idea of becoming bionic, to have the ability to play music in your head, to look at your wrist and a watch just appears out of thin air, to constantly be plugged in at all times. The thought is crazy, but 40 years ago, most people never would have predicted we would be holding smartphones in the palm of our hands nearly everywhere we go.
How much convenience is too much? When will it end? When everyone owns their robots or AI systems to live life for them, do their chores, or go to work for them? It may be a crazy thought, but that is where I see people going.
People love to have convenience. Why would they want their life to be more complicated or trivial than it already is? That is why as a species, humans advanced to make life easier.
Another reason I am concerned with technology knowing everything about people is what if it were to be leaked to the public or scammers as we’ve seen already happening, but on a much larger scale? Could you imagine what people could do with all that information? I don’t think people understand how easy it is to simply look up a person and find their life on a few web pages. It is becoming easier to find where you live, go to school, work experience, voter status, and even financial status.
To escape the tangles of technology best as you can, try to limit the screen time on your phone, don’t have personalization turned on when browsing websites or social media, turn your location off, and don’t plug in any vital information on your phone, such as credit cards.
It will be less convenient for you, but you may be safer in the long run. You will not be at high risk for a cyber security attack, and your safety online will be much better.
There is no erasing what is already online about you, but you can protect yourself from any future harm. It may not seem like you are doing yourself a favor but trust me, you are.
The biggest thing that I can recommend everyone does is to set up two-step authentication on every platform you own. It is simply more protection in case anything happens, such as someone trying to hack into any of your accounts.
If you don’t want to lose the convenience of technology, please be safe and mindful of what you do because it is constantly being monitored, even if you don’t believe it is.
