When I think about my personal web browsing habits, the first things that come to mind are the social media sites I use most and what I tend to gravitate towards when online shopping/browsing. I use Facebook Messenger, Tumblr, and Snapchat the most, so those three websites alone can easily identify me as either millennial or Gen Z. I also read a lot of web comics, all of which are rated PG-13 and over, so I can be identified as at least a teenager. As a kicker, I’ve been doing a lot of research into college life, like what things I should buy for my dorm, what kind of classes I should take/avoid for my major, etc., so that lands me right in the college student category. I also do a lot of online shopping and browsing for succulents, stationery items, and typically “feminine-branded” things, so all of those combined can be used to identify me as someone who enjoys gardening, crafts, and is female. In fact, I have already seen this in action. Ever since I started looking up cute stationery items like decorative paper or stickers or washi tape, I would get ads on Amazon and Google that would recommend those to me. When I began to have an interest in raising succulents, Instagram showed me more and more ads about accounts with succulents and various stores that sold them. That’s when the reality of my data not really being privately really hit me, and I looked into more data privacy methods, but that’s probably out there now, too.
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