Following some engaging presentations by half the class, we learned more about privacy concerns that are prevalent to almost all of us, as I’m sure most people have thought before that their phone is listening to them. Personally, I have had many instances of this, where I am convinced that I am being spied on. I feel like sometimes it is even reading my mind.
I found today’s discussion was really informative, helping me to better understand why this happens. Prior to this class, I wasn’t aware of the concept of a “Social graph,” which involves what your friends are looking at, liking, or searching for. It’s interesting to think that if a friend of mine searches for a specific product, then we speak about it together (because she searched it), and it ends up as an advertisement on my phone, it actually has nothing to do with our conversation. I also had failed to consider in the past that there would certainly be troubles with my phone’s battery if it were to be constantly recording audio.
So while our phones aren’t actually listening to us, I might argue that what they are doing is just as scary We aren’t being listened to, we are being observed, analyzed, and predicted. We willingly, and often unknowingly, surrender massive amounts of our personal data to a number of companies who then use our data to target us. This is why it is so important to teach about digital footprints and online safety, something highlighted in the Province of BC’s Digital Footprint video. This video, which featured some of my former classmates and a shot of my middle school (Go Sharks!), was highly informative of how important it is for youth to be safe online. This is only becoming more and more important, as children are accessing the internet at very young ages nowadays, and we need to help them be safe online.
The video below is one I found online that may be worth showing to youth about the myth around phones listening to you.
I also wanted to speak briefly about one of the video presentations discussed this week, the Robe Report (by Liz, Shae, Sheyla, and Amy). I really enjoyed their video and the discussion of New vs Old School projects. Personally, I am a big fan of Canva and use it for nearly all my assignments in university. However, this discussion really highlighted the importance of old school projects in high school. I can definitely see myself using a mix of both kinds of assignments in my future classroom. I think smaller, in-class projects (with a work block or two) are best suited for the old school methods. When a project is long and requires ample research, technology may be best.