DATA EVERYWHERE! COULD WE SURVIVE WITH THAT?

People living in the era of technology 4.0 find it almost hard to avoid depending on the highly
convenient features offered by data domains. On the other hand, as technology continues to
evolve, the appearance of digital in everyday life becomes more commonplace, or it may be
seen as having developed into an essential part of existence. In this essay I will argue the
statement that “Could people survive with data?” In order to express this idea, I would like to
describe several aspects that data define, especially myself, using the following points:
Social media figures out the truth persona, the data in Government; Location and Travel
identity. Through this essay, a full picture of the effects of data on our daily life would be
shown via all services around us.

Due to the fact that 68% of the population all over the globe uses mobile phones, social
media today plays a vital part in our everyday lives (Kemp, 2023). Therefore, it is
indisputable that thanks to social media, people's lives have become more vibrant since they
are now able to engage in advertising activities in addition to maintaining contact with their
most beloved relatives or just posting pictures of their everyday lives. Furthermore, every
post, every photo or the way you build up your profile on a social media platform would be
the prime source of data. For example, the most popular tool: Established in 2010, Instagram
is currently owned by Facebook. Users may upload and share photographs and videos on it.
Media material is improved by the platform's filters and editing capabilities. Instagram's news
feed lets users communicate with friends, family, celebrities, and companies. Utilised
extensively over the globe. I would like to say that Instagram is one perfect way data defines
me. Instagram will propose friends who share my interests based on my posts or photographs
that I enjoy. I usually use Instagram to share my daily life rather than facebook because
Instagram seems more private and cooler. Additionally, its feature has updated my favourite
frequently due to my utilise habits. Specifically, my focus is health and fitness, beauty and
cosmetics, photography and cooking. Therefore, whenever I stop one or two seconds in a
video belonging to one of these favourites, next time I will see a list of videos that have the
same content. However, Scams on Instagram are more common than on Facebook. I often get
untrue messages (Appendix 1), and it's simple to be scammed if I am not vigilant. According
to a study, it is often reminded that one has a proportion of inauthentic accounts in their
follower account, particularly influencers who are 'bombarded with fake followers' (Purba et
al., 2020: 2763) and advised as seed accounts for new users constructing the profile.
Therefore, social media is a tremendous tool or data is our partner for defining our online
character, but it also poses privacy and mental health risks. Individuals should actively
manage their internet presence, taking into account the implications of the data they disclose.
As a result we both have two sides of the problem; nevertheless, it is clear that based on
social media and data connection, the increase of the economy has been rapid. Based on the
fact that social media combines the political with the personal, ideas and emotions into
"affective statements that mix fact with opinion and emotion in a way that simulates how we
politically react."(Papacharissi, 2015a, p. 27). Another report also figured out that the
limitation of content in social media allows their conversation to be interpreted (Phillips &
Milner, 2017) as well as multidirectional connection creating an imaginary future. As well as
through emotion expressions, "networked publics that are mobilised and connected,
identified, and potentially disconnected" are described (Papacharissi, 2015a, p. 311).Social
media should be a fantastic instrument for defining ourselves in many different ways, and it
seems that individuals can still survive and adapt constructively in this scenario.

The following idea most likely refers to the information management system used by a
nation. This pertains to education, medical professionals and personal information. It is often
accepted that a country may be considered powerful when it has both robust military and
economic capabilities. On the other hand, state machines operating in the 4.0 age need a data
domain that is capable of storing thousands of data points in order for them to be successful.
Think about how many various kinds of identification cards a country has to use in order to
identify its citizens; other nations just require one card in order to determine a person's
address, work phone number, university, marital status, and calendar information. It's really
ridiculous, but because time is money, the winner will be whoever is faster. Additionally,
according to Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 43 Harv. C.R, they said that
the Government truly faces collecting individual’s data due to the fact that they believe if
they could have big data then reducing cost and enhancing convenience, speed, efficiency
and accountability could happen ( Appendix 2). Therefore, apart from the privacy of users,
the huge advantages that data could bring to the Government is phenomenal. Each individual
will be presented in a thorough and clear manner. It is possible that as a consequence of this,
people may lose their freedom. When voting on a national topic, do individuals have the
courage to speak their opinions, or do they allow themselves to be swayed by the power of
data? The way data defines our choice in this situation could come from the power of the
country: How far that they could get! On top of that, this is the original informative data
about us which means core important information that could have a huge impact on our life.

In my third point, I will develop the idea that location and travel history identify hobbies.
Specifically, applications like GPS, Google Maps, and Opal always remember where we have
been and what we have searched for when we use them. When we use it, the app's algorithm
will remember our previous searches and look for places that are either close or have a name
that is similar to the one we used to find them. This varies from person to person based on
factors such as their region, nationality, and culture. As a consequence of this, two locations
with the same name may have different coordinates depending on the location of the person
accessing the information. For example, I live in Parramatta and work in Bondi Junction,
whenever I tap “P” the address would be shown as: Pemberton Street where I live. However
if another person searches for that the result would show more locations for Pemberton street
around Sydney. Is there nonetheless still protection for the right of individuals to have
privacy? What were the reasons for removing the Zenly application from the technical world?
Despite the fact that Zenly said that it would be leaving the IT sector since the company did
not want to compete with Snap (Andrew Deck, 2022). On the other hand, I am not convinced
that this is because Zenly has a poor development trajectory. As a consequence of this, the
owner made the decision to write it off. due to the fact that people in my immediate
environment said that Zenly did not give them the feeling of being secure since their location
information will always be exposed to other people. Even if geolocation will be helpful in
some situations for search, the question is whether or not that data will be guaranteed, or
whether or not it will be shared to companies for their databases or other uses. Taking
advantage of others, stealing their stuff, and other unethical commercial practices. That is an
important issue happen nowadays, data defines ourselves to be a special persona or could
make us dangerous with others.
To sum up, with the aim to outstand the main argument that “ Data everywhere! Could we
survive with that?” This essay figure out three supportive ideas: Social media not only define
ourselves but create a big connection among public for many advantageous result;
Government using strong data could be easier in define people resulting in the fact they could
develop their economy but the drawback that the freedom could be lost; the last one is about
location and travel identify assist people in defining their personality and culture about who
they are? Where do they go? Or Where do you want to go in the future? There is a point that
should be focused on is that our privacy could be threatened even though we are living in the
era of the rapid development technology where data is everywhere! Hence, it is supposed to
be researched more in the future to ensure the healthy relationship between people and data.

APPENDIX

Appendix 1:
Appendix 2:
REFERENCES
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Kemp, S. (2023, January 26). Digital 2023: Global Overview Report. DataReportal.
https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2023-global-overview-report

Andrew Deck. (2022, September 20). The Zenly implosion: Inside 6 months of tension,
culture clash, and conflict. Rest of World. https://restofworld.org/2022/fearing-competition-
snap-decided-to-shut-down-zenly-rather-than-sell-it/#

Cate, F. H. (2008). Government data mining: the need for legal framework. Harvard Civil
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Papacharissi Z. (2015a). Affective publics: Sentiment, technology, and politics. Oxford

University Press.

Phillips W., Milner R. M. (2017). The ambivalent internet: Mischief, oddity, and antagonism
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