The Transparency/Privacy Dichotomy
Fame, like a double-edged sword, can be more of a liability than a superpower if wielded incorrectly. For an increasing number of the population, openly sharing our personal information on social media isn’t so much about acquiring fame than it is for personal expression and connection.
If given the choice, I would rather go completely incognito and enjoy the privacy in peace unless I could leverage the publicity to push forward some kind of meaningful agenda. However, privacy is an illusion in the modern 21st century world of total surveillance, and fighting to keep it is an uphill, probably losing battle.
We know the inherent risks of having tech companies collect, store and sell our private data, yet we’re still carelessly communicating through our smart phones with embedded location-tracking that could jeopardize our safety if fallen into the wrong hands.
I value both transparency and privacy and that is where the dichotomy lies. Sometimes, in order to find and forge deep connections with a few special people in a sea of billions, we have to willingly volunteer selective information about ourselves that renders us vulnerable. Knowing so much about others without revealing intimate parts of yourself may result in a lopsided, voyeuristic relationship. However, bear in mind that any recorded conversation, or any innocuous word that leaves the confines of your mind, even if you think it is between two people, would run the risk of being taken out of context and exposed to unintended recipients.
From a commercial standpoint, our personal data — every social media post we like, every status update, every credit card purchase and even every personal message we send — can be used as one of thousands of data points to profile our personality to persuade us to change our behavior through highly targeted content. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for psychological warfare to further political agendas like in the Trump campaign and Brexit. The holy grail of communications is to change behavior. Last year, data surpassed oil in value — it’s the most valuable asset on Earth. The data acquired is being mined into a trillion-dollar industry. Behavior change communications techniques are so powerful it is even considered “weapons grade” or some sort of propaganda machine. This is why data scientist is the most promising job in America for 2019. While every other field will be cutting manpower, the demand for data scientists is booming and will continue to increase.
It is better to take control of the narrative that brands and people are forming about you from public domains by feeding the algorithms with the information that you want it to make sense of than to hide and let people think the worse of you which they are more likely to do of people without any visible digital traces they could find (potential employers, business partners, lovers, friends, etc). Take control of your digital brand to work it to your advantage rather than letting it cascade out of control.
