A Flemm Blog

Internet advertisers are constantly gathering information about you. They know everything you do online. They know what you eat, what music you listen to, what porn you watch, what blogs you read, etc. They also know who your friends are, what they eat, what music they listen to, what porn they watch, what blogs they read, etc.

And so we yell:

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

My private information!

We yell because the knowledge that we are so completely understood and categorized causes us to lose our sense of uniqueness and mystery. 

Notice that I've used the word mystery as opposed to privacy. Why? Because the information used to categorize you isn't private. In the Internet Age this knowledge is considered fair game.  The books you read, the music you listen to, what gadgets you buy - these bits (pun intended) of information are no longer private. This being said, we still like to feel mysterious. It feels good to not be known - to not be defined. So we are losing [have lost] our personal 'mystery'.

Once they know us, they categorize us. We are all defined. Once this happens, can we still feel unique?  How unique am I when 99% of my habits, likes, dislikes can allow me to be grouped with millions of other people? Answer: not at all.

Once we reach this point where we are not unique (and we know it) and our personal mystery is gone we can begin to sing a different tune. Instead of:

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

My private information!

We can say:

Okay. I understand that advertising is a necessary evil, but at least the ads are targeted to me. At least I get to see ads for things I may want - not adult diapers and tampons. 

So screw my mystery. Screw my uniqueness. They never really existed in the first place.