When starting this activity, I first thought to investigate my data from Instagram. When scrolling through the app I get the most bizarre ads that I can’t comprehend. So, I went on the app and looked at the “Ad Interests” they have assigned to me and I was very confused. It seems like they logged every single post I’ve clicked on for the past 8 years I’ve had an account on the platform. Some of these “Interests” are the Dole Food Company, National Cutting Horse Association, Dog harness, and Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse. The list goes on and on, it’s an endless scroll of interests they believe you have. Meanwhile, I have no clue why 90% of the interests they’ve assigned to me are there. I’ve never heard of the National Cutting Horse Association and Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse. I could’ve tapped on a post of a horse or Disneyland and they assigned anything related to those topics to my account. The platform catalogs every piece of information it can, every post, like, comment, and share. To the point, its system’s memory is stronger than yours. That way they can predict everything you may want to purchase or view.

Instagram users allow the platform access to a lot of personal information without even hesitating. When you first sign up for an account they ask for your birthday, phone number, and email. All seem reasonable, they want to make sure Instagram users are of reasonable age, and that they have ways to link and backup up your account. They also asked for access to your camera, microphone, and your camera roll. Which only seems normal because of how much society has changed over time. However, when you add up all the information we allow them to have and look at the way the platform uses it, it starts to become worrying.