Maybe Your Data Mindfulness Journey is Literally Changing the Internet

"Wait, save the cap!"

Mid-pitch, you glance back at him, puzzled.

Drained, the empty bottle in your hand begs a second look on your rather mundane quest to get it to be in any other place than in your hand.

"I've almost got enough of them to trade in for a new game!", he cheers.

You unscrew the cap, unconvinced, but do it anyway. You finish tossing the bottle though.

Golden rubbish

You and I have been throwing away the data we generate about ourselves freely for a long time. Those who were collecting it had generationally better tools for harvesting the crop than we had for controlling it. Eventually, the yield was so regular that we never missed what we could never bank. We never really believed that it was possible to disrupt this dynamic.

But like most systems of abuse, one person, then a few more, and eventually a whole lot start to notice that something is systemically wrong.

We all know those consent banners that tell us:

We Care About Your Privacy!

Now, CLICK HERE so you can give away your privacy! Yes!

No!

Addiction to free sh*t

Fact is, digital ecosystems have been so addicted to the free flow of the data-spice that we believe "Big Data" is super-valuable, that turning off the tap of any kind to feed that Sisyphean collection would bring on a wrath so terrible that the world would end.

It won't.

In an age of cancerous proliferation of information, we have needed a real chance to catch up, to have an opportunity to opt-out of participating in this dynamic that's been impossible simply through a poverty of consumer-first, people-first tools - the tech, laws, experts.

Belief is Demand is Currency is Value

Your journey to become aware of your digital environment, and then to exert some control over it, is literally changing the Internet.

You have demanded laws to create space between you and Big Data. Well done!

You have demanded browsers ask to look at your data. Congrats!

You have demanded the industry respect the boundaries of your data body. Awesome!

You, poor consumer, are richer than you could ever imagine.