Update Permissions to Protect your Data
Advertising has played on emotions for a long time, but individualized emotional targeting for my money is an ethical boundary crossed to me.
I kept turning off microphones for apps and I was still getting uncomfortably personal ads from Meta and YouTube and others. What pushed me over the edge was when I tried using chatgpt to work through an emotional event I was struggling with: my sister moving to another state. Then I was advertised to repeatedly on Instagram based on "missing your sister? Buy her this!" Finally, I realized it whatever I input into a search or look at can and will be used, "shared", or sold to advertisers.
First I deleted any "free apps" I really don't need. Then for the remaining ones I reviewed the data permissions. Here are some examples of steps I took for the apps I used most:
Google Account:
Click your google profile icon, manage your account, Data and Privacy, go through each section but especially review the following:
-"My Data Sharing" for personalized ads
-"Third Party Data Sharing"
-Consider creating a username/password instead of signing in with an account to minimize sharing of the info used in that app.
Meta Account:
Click on your profile icon, Settings & Privacy, Accounts center, Your Information and Permissions go through each section but especially review the following:
-"Activity from Other Businesses",
-"App connections"
-"External Accounts"
-"Search History" (I cleared mine and changed my history to only be saved 3 days)
Youtube:
Click your profile icon, Your data in Youtube, go through each section but especially review the following:
-"Personalized Ads"
-"YouTube Watch History"
-"YouTube Search History"
Consider reviewing permissions in your other apps as well especially social media like Snapchat, Messenger, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, but any kind of app collects your info. You may be suprised what is being shared. Turning off personalized ads will also likely help save on emotional purchases as well. I hope this helps you too!
Check out thes infographics from this article about how much data is collected by the most common apps: https://www.pcmag.com/news/sick-of-data-collection-try-these-apps-instead
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