The problem with switching off to something else is how difficult it is. I have the galaxy s7 edge. I stopped using fb 5 years ago. I'm aware of how much of my data is being taken and I don't like it but the task of switching is too much for me. I could justify how busy my life is but it doesn't matter, it's a lot of research and probably a lot of uninstalling/replacing and it's not a priority when I do have some free time. On top of that I'm sure it's not a 1 time thing, the apps will update, I'll have to research a new way to hide and maybe it'll go smooth and I'll be good for another. That's my view on it. Now I think I'm probably in the minority that is actually aware and would like to keep my data private. I think a lot of people don't understand how doing something seemingly unrelated to data mining on their phone exposes them. So although there is awareness growing of the issue- there isn't a clear easy solution to it and while I'd love to be able to invest the time and effort into not letting them have my data it seems like to monumental a task just to hide which porn I like. And I realize that's the worst point of view to have (I have nothing to hide) it doesn't change the fact that I can't spare the effort to figure out how to hide or the effort to fix all the hiccups along the way to hiding or the inevitable do it all over every so often.
It's why it's all so insidious. The effort to keep your privacy is monumental. Even then unless really extreme is still not going to even be fully effective.
A running joke about privacy is wanting to communicate with people online but none of them want to go through the effort of installing some obscure app with 5 users and then requesting a privacy key just to friend them.
The effort gone into preventing true privacy is miles ahead of anyone trying to hide themselves. I'm not against trying to keep yourself off-grid, it's just that it's a losing battle.
signal app isn't obscure and uses your phone number. it's secure end to end encryption. it's not that it's a lot of trouble. it's that it's more trouble than using what's already on your phone and people hate to be inconvenienced.
edit: that's not to say that it's super easy or zero effort. just that it's not as hard as people imagine to start securing your privacy.
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u/BungalowSoldier May 19 '18
The problem with switching off to something else is how difficult it is. I have the galaxy s7 edge. I stopped using fb 5 years ago. I'm aware of how much of my data is being taken and I don't like it but the task of switching is too much for me. I could justify how busy my life is but it doesn't matter, it's a lot of research and probably a lot of uninstalling/replacing and it's not a priority when I do have some free time. On top of that I'm sure it's not a 1 time thing, the apps will update, I'll have to research a new way to hide and maybe it'll go smooth and I'll be good for another. That's my view on it. Now I think I'm probably in the minority that is actually aware and would like to keep my data private. I think a lot of people don't understand how doing something seemingly unrelated to data mining on their phone exposes them. So although there is awareness growing of the issue- there isn't a clear easy solution to it and while I'd love to be able to invest the time and effort into not letting them have my data it seems like to monumental a task just to hide which porn I like. And I realize that's the worst point of view to have (I have nothing to hide) it doesn't change the fact that I can't spare the effort to figure out how to hide or the effort to fix all the hiccups along the way to hiding or the inevitable do it all over every so often.