Chatting with people:
My day started with responding to messages on Messenger and iMessage, as well as checking my email to make a to-do list of emails to respond to during the day. In order to communicate with my friends and family, I use Facebook Messenger and iMessage heavily on a daily basis. I would say 70% of my text communication is on Messenger, 10% is on iMessage, and 10% is on other platforms; besides Messenger and iMessage, I also use Gmail, Slack, and GroupMe to communicate throughout the day. I use Gmail for all of my email services, including my MIT email which forwards itself to my Gmail inbox. Throughout the day, I also checked GroupMe, which is what my living group uses to communicate with each other. My UROP uses Slack, though the volume of messages there is fairly low, and I didn’t end up using it today.
Using Facebook’s Messenger, Apple’s iMessage, Google’s Gmail, and Microsoft’s GroupMe on a daily basis means that I rely on four of the biggest technology companies for my basic communication. They each have my long-standing personal data, as well as temporary location data throughout the day.
Moving around town:
I live in Burton Conner, where there are cameras at the entrances, and residents are required to tap in. I know that the Burton Conner security cameras saw me walk out around 8:30 a.m. At around 9:00, I paid for Dunkin with my credit card. At 11:00, I got Cava in Kendall Square with a good friend of mine and used Apple Pay to foot the bill. These three events paint a pretty good picture of where I spent my morning.
In the early evening around 5:00 p.m., I tapped my ID into McCormick Dance Studio for the first two hours of my dance practice. There are also cameras at the McCormick entrance. At 8:00, I tapped into the Z Center for more dance practice. Finally, at around 9:30 p.m., I walked back to Burton Conner where I tapped in again and was also visible in the security cameras.
Although I didn’t use any form of transit besides my feet today, my location was still very well documented because of the large quantity of tap access doors on campus, as well as the use of digital payment systems.
Getting online:
Today I read the news on the New York Times online, did work on Stellar, Google Docs, Google Sheets, and WordPress, and casually browsed Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. For all of these sites, I have an account with my basic personal information.
I use my overarching G Suite account for YouTube, Docs, and Sheets, so all of this information is also tied along with my Gmail. For Stellar, I have to use my MIT authentication to log on, associating all of that data with my collegiate footprint. My Instagram is tied to my Facebook, and my Twitter is also linked to my other social accounts. Thinking about this really highlights how associated all of my social accounts are and how connected each node of my data log is.
Other things:
Even when I’m not using applications on my phone, some of them are collecting data and my location from me. I also have a Microsoft Cortana smart speaker in my room, collecting all sorts of data about what I’m saying, when I’m waking up, and what I’m listening to. This exercise has led me to realize that if you combined all of the data I leave behind in a day, you can paint a really accurate picture of what I’m up to.