Within the past year both of my parents have independently preached to me about the dangers of using TikTok. They have repeatedly warned me about the threat of foreign governments harvesting my data and using it against me. Unfortunately for them, like many others in Gen Z, my main concern with the app is not my cyber security. If anything, I am happy to let the algorithm get to know me intimately because it means the content will be better tailored to my tastes.
I think that this complacency with the intrusions of technology into our lives is a common reaction to an increasingly chaotic world. With an overwhelming amount of forces outside of one’s individual control, who has the energy to care what rights they are signing away by clicking accept on the terms and conditions policy?
In addition, many young people can’t be bothered to care about who is harvesting their data when the practice is so omnipresent in modern society that you would have to live fully off the grid to avoid having your data bought and sold by tech oligarchs. This mindset is exactly what huge tech companies are hoping for because it enables them to better mine user data in order to make profits.
Not only are kids today especially susceptible to compromising their privacy on social media, but they must also be aware of the threats of phishing scams and online predation. This honestly challenges one of my core beliefs as an educator which is allowing kids to be kids without forcing them to grow up too fast via premature inundation with adult content.
While I don’t plan on deleting TikTok any time soon, I am starting to question my relationship with technology more, and consider my future responsibility to my students. I hope to provide them access to technological tools and simultaneously protect their right to privacy.
