I realize it sounds pretty ridiculous for me of all people to write that I value my privacy.
Me, who today has:

3 Instagram accounts
3 Facebook accounts
2 Twitter accounts
2 Websites
….and provides a steady flow of communication through all of them.

But the truth is that I really do value my privacy. However I realize that very few aspects of my life are private anymore and I believe this is true for all of us. By using our mobile phones, social media and Google to name a few, we are pretty much constantly leaking our data to companies and subsequently the affiliates they choose to sell/share this data to/with. In the year 2019 no one is surprised by this fact anymore I hope?

I just watched the Netflix documentary The Great Hack. It tells the story of the company Cambridge Analytica and their role in, among others, Brexit and the 2016 Trump campaign. Very clearly it depicts how personal data of millions of citizens was used to influence elections in different countries. Brittany Kaiser, a former senior Cambridge Analytica employee, explained the way they did this very simply:  

It’s like a boomerang. You send your data out. It gets analyzed. And it comes back at you as targeted messaging to change your behaviour.

She stated publicly that the Cambridge Analytica-methodology was classified as a weapon by the British government. Weapons-grade communication tactics. Let that sink in a bit… 

The British investigative journalist Carole Gadwalladr says in her TED Talk Facebook’s role in Brexit – and the threat to democracy :

The technology that once was created to connect people has become the technology that is now driving us apart. This is bigger than any of us. It’s not about left or right, remain or leave, Trump or not. It’s about if it’s possible to have a free and fair election ever again. Is this what we want, to sit back and play with our phones as this darkness falls? 

Cambridge Analytica does not exist anymore. But naturally the technology still exists and so it becomes vital for all of us to understand how our data is affecting our lives. For example: is it worth giving our data to Facebook-affiliates in Russia so we can see what we might look like a couple of decades from now? (as many people did just recently via FaceApp)

All of this makes me feel torn. Because the thing is that I really love to write about living, awareness and share my findings on the path of life so that this might inspire someone else, somewhere, in some way. But how to reach people nowadays without sharing my writing in various digital channels? 

Recently I shared a book tip in my poolside.se social media channels: Finding Your Way in a Wild New World by Martha Beck. In this book that is all about living our lives and finding our purpose in today’s western society, she proposes that we:

Use the most innovative technologies to deliver the most primal products and services.

Many companies today are using innovative technology to deliver products and services that appeal to our shadow side as human beings. They contribute to fear, hatred and division among people on this earth. 

I want to be a part of the other side: to contribute to awareness, love and compassion in our lives instead. And as long as I use my digital channels for that purpose and remain watchful of how the online-world affects my life, I want to believe I am on the right path.

If you are interested to join me on this path, you can follow and/or share this blog on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. You can also get information and inspiration from my new company Poolside on Facebook and Instagram. The more, the merrier. Welcome!

If you are interested in Brexit I can highly recommend the HBO movie Brexit: The Uncivil War with the amazing Benedict Cumberbatch.

Photo: Con Karampelas – unsplash.com

About Poolside

-Do you feel stressed, tired, burned out, numb, have difficulty to focus or feel joy?
-Is the voice of your mind running your life?
-Do your past experiences affect your daily life?
-Do you wonder if there is more to life than sleep-work-entertainment-sleep?

As of august 2019 I offer holistic counseling sessions in Swedish, English and Dutch, in person and via Skype. A holistic counseling session with me gives you space to take a break from this hectic world and be present with what is. 
Interested? Read more at:
poolside.se (in Swedish)
poolside.se/en (in English)
poolside.se/nl (in Dutch)