We Have Forgotten What Privacy Feels Like

It’s long been a running joke that all your online data is collected and you have no privacy — so why even bother.

Like most jokes, this one is based one some amount of truth.

We don’t have a lot of privacy online. And we know it.

Deep down this lack of privacy alters our behavior. We may not notice it right away in the moment. But subconsciously we act differently when we know we are being observed. And even slight changes in behavior can have big ripple effects.

This is a big problem as more and more of our lives are moving online. Heck, most of our lives already have a huge presence online. I have a hard time coming up with any activity that isn’t somehow linked to me online. From my daily workouts to my trips to the mountains. My daily purchases. The books I read. The podcasts I listen to. The food I eat. It all has an online trace.

When you combine this fact with our lack of online privacy and constant hacks/leaks of data it becomes quite scary to think about.

But I’m not here to spell doom and tell you the world is unfixable. I’m here to fix myself first. So what can I do?

I can try to experience privacy and remember what it feels like.

Sounds like a good first step.

I’ve been the boiling frog for too long. And now I barely remember what online privacy feels like. Yikes!

I experienced some of this when I recently experimented with private AI models. And that experiment continues.

But I’m also looking at other areas. I want to learn more. I want to be more resilient. I want to make sure I have the privacy to think and act clearly.