A while back, I posted about how I was using Evernote to manage information in my house and life. Probably a year ago, Evernote decided to change their user terms, and limit how many devices can use their free plans. So essentially, I can use it on my phone, and have to use the web version (which absolutely sucks) on everything else.
A while back, I also posted about how I was moving towards my own self-hosted cloud server, which has been actually working quite well. But as great as it is, ownCloud has a few limitations- namely, the lack of add-on features. Especially ones that work with my phone.
As a result, I’m sort of stuck in limbo with my data. I don’t have any really good solutions yet. I may go back to Evernote, but only if I feel like ownCloud isn’t meeting my needs. More than likely, though, I’ll just keep using ownCloud. I’m not sure the convenience is worth the cost, or risk of data breaches.
But at the end of the day, I’m in control of my data, and I am responsible for what happens to it. I’m not really comfortable with any large company selling my personal information for profit. Not to mention they’re obligated to hand my data over if the government decides they want to look at it.
Really, I don’t like the idea of Big Data to begin with. Sure, the information is easier to find and store. And I don’t have massive stacks of filing cabinets. But you want to know the truth? Once I’m gone, that information means nothing. How much of it do we really need in the first place?
It’s information overload. Because the more data we produce, the more these huge companies make money off of it. Do we really need the convenience of being able to pull up tax returns from 2 years ago on my phone? Everything today is “we want it now!” and all that data needs justification to exist.
You know why people born 100+ years ago sometimes don’t know what day, or even what year, they were born in? It’s because they didn’t have accurate record keeping for birth certificates, if they even had a certificate at all (that’s a relatively recent invention, driven by the need for- you guessed it- more data).
Whether or not I have a piece of paper, or a magnetic assemblage of 1’s and 0’s saying when I was born, I was still birthed at some point. I came into being without the help of computers, data, or certificates. I don’t need those things to prove I exist. And what’s worse, we assume these documents are accurate, and accept them as truth- when in reality, they’re easily forged, modified, or lost.
Burning my birth certificate doesn’t cause me to stop existing, much like deleting my Cloud Data doesn’t cause me to forget everything I know. It’s sometimes useful as a tool, but in most cases, the need to manage all this information has caused more problems than it’s solved.
A couple of years ago, I went with my daughter and some good friends to see one of my favorite bands. I intentionally didn’t take any pictures with my phone while I was there. Was it because I didn’t care? No, I very much wanted to be there.
I didn’t take pictures because I wanted to focus on the experience, in the moment. I wanted to burn those memories into my brain with all of my senses, because it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Not having pictures doesn’t mean I didn’t go. It means instead of pulling out my phone and showing you photos, I can tell you about it in great detail. I remember it vividly. I was fully there.
I’m slowly coming to realize the utopia of “all of mankind’s information at your fingertips” doesn’t exist. At least, not in the form we were told. Instead, it’s been replaced with Big Brother, the Homunculus of Big Data that dictates everything we do, down to how we remember and experience things. There have been numerous studies about how Social Media modifies our thinking, to take advantage of our dopamine “reward” system. It is literally controlling the way we think.
At what point does the Data go from recording the experience, to defining it? When does the Matrix begin to dictate what you do and how you think? I’d like to believe I have begun the process of unplugging, that I’ve taken the Red Pill. But the reality is, I have a long ways to go.
Yes, I’m also keenly aware that by writing this and saving it on an internet blog (and linking to it from social media), I’m adding to the deluge of data. Oh, the irony.
*sigh*