Fun fact,
people both over and underestimate the amount of data that their phone
and other tech devices are collecting about them.
And what I mean by that is
everyone seems to believe that their camera and microphone
are being used without their consent,
and that's simply not the case.
It would use far too much data.
A lot of what you say would get processed incorrectly.
And frankly, you're not saying most of what you're thinking out loud,
so it would be a horrible way to actually advertise to you.
So I'm here to tell you some of the things they are actually tracking
that you've never thought of before in your life.
Well, some of you might have thought about some of these,
but I digress. Okay,
the first one is your mouse movements and your scrolling patterns.
So when you're on your phone and you're scrolling things.
We all know TikTok works through scrolls, right?
If you scroll through a video and then you stay there for long enough,
whether or not you like the video,
TikTok's like, okay,
I might wanna show you more of this content.
Instagram works the same way,
and so do most other websites.
If you stay on a certain block of text on an article for long enough,
then some tracker is gonna be like, okay,
the words in that block of text were interesting to you.
And we're gonna find keywords with similar word.
The next one is your wireless Network.
So let's say you go to a friend's house,
you say, what's your Wi-Fi?
They got you. They know you logged on to your friend's Wi-Fi
and they know who your friend is.
So they know, oh, okay,
you have common interests.
We can figure this out. The same thing
if you're in a particular hotel and you connect to that Wi-Fi,
and even if you don't connect to Wi Fi,
they can look at. Okay,
which users are all in the same area on the same cell tower?
Well, why are they all in that area?
Is this a more remote area where people wouldn't be together?
Or is it the middle of a busy downtown area?
Is it a shopping center? Is it a private residence and so forth?
They can learn so much just from the network you're connected to
and what other devices are on that network.
Your linguistic style also comes up.
So for example, let's say you're on Facebook,
but you're using TikTok slang.
Well, that's gonna tell Facebook a lot of things.
It's gonna tell them the age demographic that you likely fall into,
cause older users are not gonna know TikTok slang.
It's gonna tell them what kind of videos you like
because certain niches would have different slang
that you would have picked up.
And Facebook's not on TikTok.
But you leave a comment on a Facebook post
and all of a sudden they figured out what you're watching on TikTok,
and they can then advertise to you based on that.
Speaking of comments you leave,
the way you type can also be tracked.
So do you type fast? Do you type slow?
Do you type with one finger on a full sized computer keyboard?
Or do you type, uh,
ten fingered? Do you, uh,
type with a lot of errors and you have to backspace a lot,
or do you have a really good accuracy?
These things will tell them.
For example,
someone who makes a lot of mistakes might be a more impulsive person,
whereas someone who types slowly and accurately
might be a less impulsive person.
So they're gonna advertise different products
to the person who appears impulsive.
Another thing they can learn from your typing style is your mood.
Angry people are also gonna type faster and make more mistakes.
Sad people are gonna type and then delete big portions of text
cause they're feeling vulnerable
and maybe. Oh,
I don't wanna say all that. Right.
So they can learn quite a bit from not just what you post,
but what you type and how you type.
The keyboard on your phone
and trackers in your browser
and in apps are tracking that sort of thing.
Here's one that's pretty obvious,
but it's worth mentioning is your sleep habits.
Your phone is.
You might already have something that's tracking your sleep,
but even if you don't, if you're on your phone at 2:00am,
they know you're On your phone at 2:00am.
And that tells them something about, oh,
maybe you have insomnia. Maybe we should start recommending sleep aids.
Or they could figure out, well,
you're using, like,
Slack late at night, so
maybe you have an international job
that works with other countries in different time zones.
Stuff like that. This one's kind of crazy.
Based on the way you use an app,
they can learn how you think,
like, how your brain is structured.
So, for example,
someone with, let's say,
ADHD might spend a lot of time going to
way all over different parts of the app.
Oh, I'm going over to the profile,
then I'm going to my notifications,
then my home, then I'm clicking through comments,
then I'm clicking through to a profile,
then I'm doing this and that.
Uh,
another thing this can tell them is just how digitally native you are.
Like, how familiar you are with the app.
That tells them a lot. Um,
but then someone, for example,
who's got more of a,
a type A personality might be doing things in a more structured way.
We're going to the homepage
and we're scrolling through every new post on the homepage.
Then we're going to the stories,
and we're watching every new story.
Then we're going to our explore tab,
and we're doing things in a very regimented and segmented way.
That tells them, uh,
about your personality and how you think.
I'm still, just, like,
scratching The surface here.
For example, in 2018,
Facebook came up with a method to track people
based on dust on a camera lens.
So, for example,
let's say you were at a wedding,
and there was a wedding photographer
who took pictures of everyone at the wedding,
and then they got emailed to all the guests later,
and then multiple of those guests all uploaded the photos to Facebook.
But there was no other way for Facebook to know who was at that, uh,
wedding. Well,
Facebook would analyze the photo,
find dust in the photo of.
From the camera lens that you couldn't even see in the photo
because it's a professional photo.
And it would use that to say, oh,
the same dust is on the camera lens
of all these different pictures that got posted to Facebook.
So those must have all been taken by the same camera at the same event.
I'll. I'll leave you with that one to chew on, I guess.