Is it too much to ask that we all take a few moments to understand what Facebook really means?

A study by the Pew Research Center reveals that the vast majority of US users, around 75%, are completely unaware that Facebook tracks their behavior and lists their interests to choose the ads it shows them. Quite simply, they haven’t thought about it: they use Facebook without asking themselves why certain content is served up on their page. Shown Facebook’s data on their ad preferences, 59% say it reflects their interests, while 27% disagree. After seeing the data, more than half said they were uncomfortable with the company collecting such information.

You have to wonder: after a year of high-profile scandals, it turns out that around 75% of Americans had not given any thought to what Facebook might be doing with their data, and at most, when asked they thought that “maybe” they were affected by microtargeting, information theft or fake pages.

The conclusions of the study border on the surreal and explain many of the problems facing society today: millions of people using technology they don’t understand but that couldn’t be easier to operate: open an account and off you go, without further ado. Many Facebook users are now seniors and share more false news and rumors than any other segment, perhaps using the false excuse that being older makes it harder to understand new concepts. Other users now see Facebook for what it is and are leaving or uninstalling it… but they are still a minority.

The vast majority of Facebook users seem to think such a move is too hard, and that the technology is beyond their understanding. As a result, they use it without thinking of the consequences: they respond to quizzes, they sign up for sites that sound interesting, they answer questionnaires full of personal information out of curiosity or vanity and just follow the herd.

What’s more, Facebook means Instagram and WhatsApp, now the company’s most popular application. In reality, any app that is part of the Zuckerberg empire will have harmful privacy practices: not only should we stop using them, we should consider suing them.

Much remains to be done. For the vast majority of people, privacy is a difficult concept to get their heads round, and few of us see it as a right, instead falling back on the old “I don’t have anything to hide” trope. “You deserve privacy online. Here’s how you could actually get it” by Tim Cook, published in Timecalling on Congress to legislate on these issues, is highly recommended reading: Apple is virtually alone among the new tech giants in not creating detailed profiles of its users so as to sell them to third parties, and undoubtedly has much to gain from laws to protect our privacy, but it’s clear that its stance is based on principle rather than merely seeking a competitive advantage over its rivals.

What better metaphor for today’s society than millions of people using technology they have no idea about and seem totally uninterested in understanding? We’re little better than chimps playing with machine guns. What could possibly go wrong?

(En espa?ol, aquí)

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