While researching on surveillance capitalism, I was perhaps most surprised to see this prevalent knowledge that people knew their data is being captured, a vague sense of awareness without grasping the gravity of this data surveillance. The ways in which it is used against us (or to sell to us) seems beyond basic comprehension. We know these social sites have tons of information on us, but how their influence seeps into our lives and overwhelms us is probably less known. Makes one think there is no alone time anymore as along as one is alone with a phone.
A note on the illustration above:
We are never by ourselves. All we do online makes for a marketplace of experiences and behaviour. Our daily interactions with technology and our increasing reliance on the internet have made it nearly impossible for us to truly have privacy. Our likes, dislikes, moods, routines, interests, hobbies, wishful thinking, vices, all are captured and materialised as our behavioural data for companies to purchase and utilise to target us better. So sitting in a cafe and looking at a screen inevitably gives us the company of onlookers who are keeping an eye on us, capturing all we do to target us better. Minute by minute, captured.
