Politics and PA

Much like everyone else, I do a lot of online shopping. Because of this, I am literally giving companies and organizations access to my data. I am likely giving shopping information to Google, which in turn likely means my data is going to the companies that Google thinks it should go to. I shop for clothing, pet items, school supplies, books, and photography related items. I also am a self-taught photographer, so I have a lot of history of clicking and looking up photography tutorials and tricks. Boom. I’m an advertisers dream demographic. Since I’ve been doing photography, I receive mainly ads from places that sell photography classes and equipment.

I don’t mind being specifically targeted. However, the article “Are We Stuck in Filter Bubbles” resonated with me. I have noticed that I get more conservative suggested posts, than liberal ones. This is particularly interesting to me as my ideas on social politics are more liberal-minded. However, my facebook, public voter registration, etc., are all openly Conservative. I notice I get a lot of pro-life ads, and suggested posts on Facebook that slam pro-choice people and abortion, and it angers me more than anything because I am a HUGE advocate for abortions and the right to chose. I had never thought of this before reading this article. I do feel like this article is for people who don’t do a lot of research on their own and live their lives learning politics from Facebook memes. I really wish that suggested posts give a little more diversity than I’ve noticed personally.

I doubt I’ll change my habits, because I do google both sides of the fence on politics and most “news”. Therefore, while my ads might be skewed to the right, I am still doing a lot of advocacy and searches for the left. Just because my Facebook identifies me as a Conservative, doesn’t mean I’m voting for Trump and trying to shut down Planned Parenthood. Ads influence me with small things like clothes and material items, but my ideas are very diverse, and aren’t going to change easily.

I, much like others who have posted already, did not get much from the Google Takeout thing. I unfortunately did not have a lot come out of it, other than what I’ve shared through Google. However, I do see how big of a difference this makes, as our parents didn’t have technology like this. While, I think it’s cool, I don’t think I’m a great candidate for this, as the only inference that can be made from this particular analysis is that I am a student.