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Psychological Aspects of Allowing our Cybersurveillance and Data-Collection | | | We are all being cyber-surveilled - this is a well-known fact to many people, especially to the students in this course.
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< | An overwhelmingly large amount of data about us is continuously and constantly extracted from our laptops, cellphones and other digital devices, and is used by, and traded between, numerous entities, even without our knowledge. | >
> | An overwhelmingly large amount of data about us is constantly extracted from our laptops, cellphones and other digital devices, and is used by, and traded between, numerous entities, even without our knowledge. | | |
Although we are all aware, to some extent, of this phenomenon - we nonetheless continue to addictively and habitually use our devices, and permit this constant surveillance and information collection to occur.
This situation positions us in cognitive dissonance, which is common in many other contexts of addictions, such as addiction to abusive substances - people know it can be destructive to their lives, but they nonetheless continue to consume these products. | |
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< | One fundamental question in this regard is: why do we do this? Don't we know better? | >
> | One fundamental question is: why do we do this? Don't we know better? | | | Throughout the course, it was suggested that some psychological aspects underly this "cybersurveillance cognitive dissonance", such as the need to reduce anxiety; FOMO; and repression and denial of the ramifications of our data-surveillance. | | | Optimism Bias | |
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< | One example of what is largely defined as "positive illusions", is the "optimism bias" (or unrealistic optimism), i.e. a judgment bias which tends to affect people's subjective estimates of the likelihood of future events in their lives, causes people to overestimate the likelihood of positive events, and to underestimate the likelihood of negative events, especially in comparison to other people. | >
> | One example of what is largely defined as "positive illusions", is the "optimism bias" (or unrealistic optimism), i.e. a judgment bias which tends to affect people's subjective estimates of the likelihood of future events in their lives, causes them to overestimate the likelihood of positive events, and to underestimate the likelihood of negative events, especially in comparison to other people. | | | Studies have found that approximately 80% of the population display optimism bias in some instances, documented across various characteristics, including gender, age, nationality, and profession. | | | Present Bias | |
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< | The "present bias" is the tendency of people to focus on the "here and now" – namely, to over-estimate the value of immediate rewards, at the expense of long-term, equivalent or greater benefits. | >
> | The "present bias", simply put, is the tendency of people to focus on the "here and now" – namely, to over-estimate the value of immediate rewards, at the expense of long-term, equivalent or greater benefits. | | | Interestingly,this bias was raised in the context of environmental law and the notion of intergenerational justice. Thus, despite the fact that people expressly claim they care about the environment and want to leave the world in good condition for future generations – they nonetheless discount environmental risks, and their future manifestation, to a greater degree than can be rationally defended. | | | Groupthink | |
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< | Another relevant psychological effect is "groupthink", a phenomenon which occurs when a group of people, of various sizes, make irrational or non-optimal decisions; among other reasons, due to a desire to create harmony and conformity within the group. In this situation, group members tend neither to express doubts and judgment, nor to disagree with the group consensus, while possibly ignoring prospective ethical or moral consequences. | >
> | Another relevant psychological effect is "groupthink", a phenomenon which occurs when a group of people, of various sizes, make irrational or non-optimal decisions; among other reasons, due to a desire to create harmony and conformity within the group. In this situation, group members tend neither to express doubts and judgments, nor to disagree with the group consensus, while possibly ignoring prospective ethical or moral consequences. | | | | |
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< | Implementing this phenomenon in the cybersurveillance perspective, it can be suggested that, when confronted with explicit information regarding our cybersurveillance - we dismiss or diminish our doubts and reservations on the matter, in order to conform and harmonize with the rest of our cyber-surveilled peers. We do so, even if cybersurveillance contradicts our most fundamental values, such as the right to autonomy and privacy | >
> | Implementing this phenomenon in the cybersurveillance perspective, it can be suggested that, when confronted with explicit information regarding our cybersurveillance - we dismiss or diminish our doubts and reservations on the matter, in order to conform and harmonize with the rest of our cyber-surveilled peers. We do so, even if cybersurveillance contradicts our most fundamental values, such as the right to autonomy and privacy. | | | Can We Reduce the Biases? | | | Yet, we can still hope that public awareness regarding the perils of our cybersurveillance will be further raised through alternative, interest-free, communication channels, before it is too late to do something about it (although admittedly, this aspiration might be optimistically biased). | |
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< | Personally, having participated in this course, and especially writing this essay, I became much more aware of both existing and future hazards of cybersurveillance, and to the underlying biases which allow, and even encourage, me to ignore these hazards. Thus, I have sincerely been struggling with these biases and been trying to change my (as well as my family and friends) cyber-usage. For instance, I switched to a more secure browser; I turned off any apparent) option on my smartphone to collect information about my location, media content, etc.; and, generally, I think twice before clicking on any online content I encounter (while formerly, I habitually clicked on almost every link I was interested in, with no hesitation). | >
> | Personally, having participated in this course, and especially writing this essay, I became much more aware of both existing and future hazards of cybersurveillance, and to the underlying biases which allow, and even encourage, me to ignore these hazards. Thus, I have sincerely been struggling with these biases and been trying to change my (as well as my family's and friends') cyber-usage. For instance, I switched to a more secure browser; I turned off any (apparent) option on my smartphone to collect information about my location, media content, etc.; and, generally, I now think twice before clicking on any online content I encounter (while formerly, I habitually clicked on almost every link I found interesting, with no hesitation). | | |
While I am well-aware that this is just a drop in the bucket (yet, bad habits are hard to break), I hope to continue to confront my biases, and to use more secured cyber devices in a more conscious manner.
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