I have lived for more than 4 years without the voluntary use of any Google products, Apple products, or any type of social media outside of school. This experience has changed me for the better. By observing a classroom after the lecture has finished at Smithtown High School West, it is apparent that almost everyone in the classroom is paying more attention to their phones than they ever paid to any living human. In fact, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, ninety percent of adolescents report use of social media.[11] Often, I am asked, “How do you survive without a smartphone?” I am now surviving and thriving much better than if I had one.
Google, Apple, and other data collection companies are well-known for privacy invasions in the interest of financial gain. In Brown et al. vs Google LLC et al. (2021), Google has tracked and collected identifying information and browser activity, even when it has promised not to. According to the Plaintiffs’ attorneys, “What Google does not publicly represent, however, is how it uses the endless amounts of personal and consumer data it intercepts and collects for its own business purposes.“ [1]
This data collection is often even present in public school systems, such as the Smithtown Central School District, in the form of Google’s popular learning management system Google Classroom and the distribution of Chromebooks to schools. Recently, Google settled two federal lawsuits regarding collection of student data with New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas. [2] In this case, AG Balderas accused Google of the collection and sale of student information, violating the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.[16] According to the lawsuit, Google is accused of collecting data such as “students’ physical locations, browsing history, search history, videos watched on YouTube, personal contact lists, voice recordings, saved passwords and other behavioral information” [16] for monetary gain. The result of this settlement slightly increases privacy for students who must use Google products as part of their primary education.
It should be well appreciated that the Smithtown Central School District has passed a “Parents Bill of Rights” that guarantees proper use of data collected from students by technology companies.[6] This policy states that “Student data cannot be sold or released for commercial purposes.” The District has also published a list of educational technologies it uses, in addition to their privacy policies. Adoption of these policies will allow for correct precedents to be established and for the concept of privacy to continue.
However, privacy minded individuals should take steps to protect their privacy outside of school or work. People sign away their rights to privacy by utilizing Google or other data collection service websites, as data collection websites offering “free” services subtly require you to agree to one-sided contracts and terms. There are only very few “free” services that do not require you to pay via your identifying information.
People often believe that their personal data is not of significant value and therefore trade it for “free” services such as online file storage. However, according to a study by the Pew Research Center, 79 percent of Americans “are very/somewhat concerned about how [companies] use(s) the data collected.” In addition, according to this study, “81% of Americans think the potential risks of data collection by companies about them outweigh the benefits.”[3] How many risks are we agreeing to every month by signing up for “free” services?
It can be difficult to avoid use of services that collect and sell identifying data. One can avoid use of Google Docs and other such products, but most people utilize smartphones with Apple iOS or Google Android operating systems. According to a study conducted by Douglas J. Leith of the School of Computer Science & Statistics at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, smartphones running iOS or Android contact Google or Apple servers every 4.5 seconds, even though the user on the smartphone “opted out” of this type of data collection. Every 4.5 seconds, including when the cell phone is idle, identifying data such as “IMEI, hardware serial number, SIM serial number and IMSI, [and] handset phone number” are sent to data collection servers. [4] The abstract of this study concludes that “Users have no opt out from this and currently there are few, if any, realistic options for preventing this data sharing.”
There are alternatives to reduce the amount of data collected through smartphones. The default operating system that comes with mobile devices often collects large amounts of data as described in the study mentioned above. Examples of alternatives include GrapheneOS, LineageOS, Sailfish OS, /e/ OS, and Ubuntu Touch. These platforms attempt to greatly reduce the amount of tracking and data collection on smartphones. The downside is that these platforms may not fully support your mobile device.
Aside from the base operating system of mobile devices, software such as chat clients, web browsers, and games can collect a surprising amount of personal information. Obviously, if you give your name or other information voluntarily, your data will be collected and possibly sold, but there is a myriad of other information collected aside from what you give to these software. Recently, popular video conferencing software Zoom settled with the Federal Trade Commission due to misleading claims of “end-to-end, 256-bit encryption.” The FTC states that “Zoom maintained the cryptographic keys that could allow Zoom to access the content of its customers’ meetings.”[5]
The popular web browser Google Chrome also collects vast amounts of data, even when users are in the misleadingly named “private browsing mode.” [1] According to the Plaintiffs in Brown et al, “even when [one] is browsing with ‘private browsing mode’ enabled, Google Analytics and Google Ad Manager continue to track his data.” The data collected here contains private information such as IP address, browser, device information, and webpage content.[1] Even though alternatives such as Mozilla Firefox and Brave Browser exist, Google Chrome continues to be the most popular browser. [15]
Video games also collect a surprising amount of data for business use. According to a very recent Wired article, there is now a new industry centered around collection of data analytics for video game companies. Due to the understanding that video games are “systems that easily allow the reduction of human action into knowable and predictable formats,” games are great troves of data for collection. [7] According to this article, video games companies such as Epic, EA, and Activision “explicitly state they capture user data in their license agreements.” These license agreements must be approved by the user before running their software. Signing away your rights of data privacy to play a game is not very appealing.
At Smithtown High School West, I often observe many students, under the legal age of signing contracts (18 in New York State) use social media or gaming software on Apple iOS or Google Android smartphones. I doubt that most of these students have read the privacy policies and license agreements they have signed themselves into. I also doubt they are aware and reflect on all the negative health effects of using smartphones.
According to a summary of studies by Elia Abi-Jaoude, MSc MD, Treurnicht Naylor, MPH MD, and Antonio Pignatiello, MD, results from multiple studies indicate that “social media was associated with body image concerns and disordered eating.”[8] Cyberbullying, a common occurence on social media is also associated with extreme negative mental health, including suicide. Studies report that “the odds of suicidal ideation, plans and attempts were all significantly higher among those who had experienced cyberbullying.”[8]
In addition, social media and smartphone use has a negative effect on “cognitive control, academic performance and socioemotional functioning in youth.”[8] Academic performance in high school is critically important for admission to a reputable university or college. A recent study of 300 students at a university concludes that “Excessive social media use for non-academic purpose distracted [students] from their learning and academic activities and delayed their bed time.” [9]
Use of smartphones is also associated with loss of social skills for direct person-to-person contact and consequently a decrease in mental health. According to a 2015 scientific journal article by Varoth Chotpitayasunondh and Karen M. Douglas from the School of Psychology at the University of Kent, smartphone addiction causes a phenomenon known as “phubbing”, in which one is “concentrating on one’s phone instead of talking to the person directly.”[10] During in-person contact, “Phone use was also found to predict distraction, which in turn predicted greater boredom and worse overall mood.” [8]
Additionally, smartphones threaten the already-short sleep times of adolescents and college students. There is an established dose-response relationship between excessive electronic device use over two hours per day and loss of sleep. [8] Use of electronic devices just before sleep is even worse as it disrupts sleep in multiple ways: “longer time to fall asleep and decreased evening sleepiness, reduced melatonin secretion, circadian clock delay, reduced amount and delay in rapid eye movement sleep, and reduced next-morning alertness.”[8]
Finally, overuse of smartphones can increase risk for myopia, also known as nearsightedness. A recent study published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Optometry, there is a clear association between smartphone use in children and development of myopia, which presents serious further ocular health risks. [12] Use of smartphones may also cause permanent ocular damage and even blindness. A study by researchers at the University of Toledo experimented with the effects of blue light on retinal molecules, which detect light in the eyes. Dr. Ajith Karunarathne states, “If you shine blue light on retinal, the retinal kills photoreceptor cells as the signaling molecule on the membrane dissolves.” The photoreceptor cells will never regenerate, which may lead to blindness as one ages.[13]
There are non-prohibitionist approaches to reducing the effects of smartphone use and addiction. To prevent excess collection of personal data, when given the choice, one can utilize privacy-respecting services that refrain from sale and overcollection of identifying data. There are also a variety of tools that offer methods to protect data even while using services that do not offer respectful privacy policies. To reduce the negative mental, social, and physical effects of smartphone and social media addiction, limiting screen time is an effective method. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that consistent limits of screen time be set, including screen time for educational purposes. [14] Additionally, to reduce effects on sleep loss, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital recommends that screen time should not be allowed during meals or before bedtime. [14]
Beware of the caveats of technology that seems too cheap to be true, too convenient to be true, or too useful to be true.