“Honey! Where were we on the night of the 14th?” No, it is not information you need to provide to your lawyer as an alibi; however, it has become the most frequent FAQ in your life as the dynamic duo of marital bliss. When does this question pop up, you wonder? For starters, when you are trying to piece together who was driving the shared car (carbon footprint reduction, it’s the 21st century and temps are a-rising) on the day you got a speeding ticket (word to the wise, it does not matter, you will end up paying it anyway), or simply when you’re staring at your collage of memories and wondering where that fabulous picture was taken, and what was the occasion?
We live in a technologically driven world where our every step is either predetermined, or carefully documented, in a glorious tapestry of selfies and Google Calendar meetings. Gone are the days when we needed to ask our sage parents for the exact time and location of our exploits, as everything is digitally categorized in a cornucopia of emails, text messages, WhatsApp, voice notes etc. It requires expert level analytical skills to trace through the digital web of our lives, though.
To be honest, it can cause quite a bit of sensory overload. Imagine trying to recall an important conversation you had with a friend (nay, your manager at work) over the deadline of a project, however you simply cannot recall where that conversation took place. It could have been verbal, but that also includes a digital voice-note (which, unfortunately, cannot be searched using modern methods, yet). It could have been written, but that could be in an email, a broadcast message, an SMS or quite simply, an old post-it left on your desk beneath a mountain of other paperwork. The possibilities are endless!
Digitally transcribing our daily routine is an effective method of knowing where we were, and also, in a metaphorical sense, where we are going. Take your bank statement, for example. A quick review of your monthly statement will show you information you never knew you never knew, like how much money you spent on restaurants (time to fire up the kitchen skills) or again, where you were on certain dates by checking the shops you visited on said date. It offers the perfect way to trace your footsteps and make note of your patterns, taking in how often you buy groceries, when you opt to eat out, what times of the month you shop for clothes and also, when you spend money during vacations.
The keyword of this age in the annals of history is, data. Everything you do and everyone you know can be digitally broken down into multiple columns of data that track your likes, activities and habits. When it comes to usage, this trove of treasured info can help you with such personal aspects as budgeting, planning and controlling your spending habits. All of these serve to make you a properly functioning adult.
However, in the wrong hands, this information can also be used to influence you in subtle ways, your digital breadcrumbs can most likely be followed by a big, bad, digital wolf (or in reality, automated bots) who bombards you with unwanted, unsolicited advertisements for products and services you conveyed interest in with your trusted confidante; your search engine.
Many people have complained that their mobile phones are nothing more than a sophisticated spying tool, easily accessed by knowledgeable individuals who can go as far as listening in to your conversations and using certain words and phrases to direct and targets ads to you, based on a personal conversation. The age-old adage of “the best things in life are free” no longer holds true in the 21st Century; everything offered for free in digital form is collecting data and calculating how best to use this data to monetize you. It is the unfortunate consequence of the myriad of benefits derived from living on the information super-highway.
It is good to rely on digital platforms to categorize our day and plan ahead, however, it is also good to step away from the digitalization and embrace a little bit of manual planning, to help keep your privacy private. Whereas previously we would save our money by signing up for free, it might be time to spend some money to maintain our free(dom).
Like the Rubik’s Cube, Ayman Nassar is multi-colored in his interests, from running to organizing races, stand- up comedy and internal audit, plus a little writing on the side. You can find him on YouTube or follow him on Instagram @lordaymz. Photo by ev on Unsplash.
