Don’t misinterpret my comment as approving of this behavior. But it just occurred to me that this is a societal issue not a tech issue. We have billboards on the highway, on buildings, before computers we had tv in the home that pushed ads. So really this is just tech catching up.
70% of the population is overweight, if people can’t bother to care about their body / health then why would they care about being spied on by telemetry or denied access to their licensed content via DRM?
It feels shitty to think about, but it seems like this is just a tech extension to some of the flaws in society, rather than a problem that’s unique to tech.
> "if people can’t bother to care about their body / health then"
People would have an easier time of that if there wasn't so much brightly coloured cheap sugar at bargain prices arrayed around the checkout of supermarkets and advertised all over. It obviously works or they wouldn't do it. Pretending it doesn't work and the target/victim is at fault for being influenced by it is awful. If you'd never heard of soda in your life, you wouldn't think to ask "what's the most intensley sugary fizzy acidic liquid I can drink?". If you'd never heard of Pepsi you'd never think to ask "What is the drink of my generation?" or "What is Michael Jordan endorsing? I bet the only reason he's good is his sneaker brand, I need some of those".
It's the situation of the bully standing in front of you, facing you, walking backwards, pointing at you, calling you names, poking you in the chest, pausing so you have to stop moving to avoid tripping up, pretending to spit at you so you wince, then laughing, sidestepping in step with you so you can't dodge them, interrupting your conversation with your friends and it's all fine and socially accepted - as long as you're a sufficently virtuous Ayn Rand libertarian this won't annoy or frustrate you. If it does and you retaliate, ever, in any circumstances (and it will be there when you are weakest, tiredest, most desperate, waiting) then HAH! Gotcha! you're inferior, clearly you just 'can't be bothered' to take the high road and now we can righteously take your money because you fell for temptation so we earned it.
And literally nobody will say anything in your defence because Calories In / Calories Out and I'm All Right, Jack, fuck you got mine, worksforme won'tfix. They'd have to have, you know, empathy.
Yes of course, these products are being shoved in our faces and sugar is even being snuck into things like bread and pasta sauce where you wouldn’t expect it. It’s really insidious but that doesn’t negate the personal responsibility people have. It’s a nuanced issue, it’s not all the individuals fault and it’s not all the food manufacturers faults. For example there’s also an education component (or lack there of) at play here.
But anyways, my point wasn’t about the contributing factors of obesity, but rather that if people are struggling with their health how are they expected to be worrying about things like privacy
70% of the population is overweight, if people can’t bother to care about their body / health then why would they care about being spied on by telemetry or denied access to their licensed content via DRM?
It feels shitty to think about, but it seems like this is just a tech extension to some of the flaws in society, rather than a problem that’s unique to tech.