Maybe its just the fact they are more aware of how invasive tracking has become and its continued drastic increases. Are there Millennials or Gen X who seek to endlessly allow corporate American to label and follow them online?

I understand how the term “free” alters not only how often an online product is used but also how transparent users are with it but unless I start getting a cut of my data being solid behind closed doors, get fucked (right???).

Companies have brands, people have personalities.

I have read too many books evangelizing hustle culture, and I have listened to too many MBAs preaching “selling yourself” by “promoting your personal brand”. It’s bullshit, I’m a human being - I don’t want to sell myself, or spend countless hours crafting a narcissistic professional persona.

All I want is meaningful work, a modest livelihood, and a stable community. None of which requires fame, and it doesn’t require tracking my every keystroke. Exploitative tech companies are so desperate to chase infinite growth that they will sacrifice and erode everything that makes life worth living in pursuit of profit.

Is it really any wonder that people just want to use the internet without being data-mined, judged, and manipulated?

So, reading the article it doesn’t seem to be as much about Gen Z’ers not wanting to be marketed to. Instead it’s more about not wanting to be attached to expectations based on their actions. A lot of that seems to have come out of the protests from the last several years. They became more aware that social media was being used to track them, and use their actions against them.

They don’t see a reason for the fact that they bought product X, or went to X protest, or attended rally Y as being the basis for pigeon holing themselves into certain roles… Especially when having the attributes attached could affect their future.

That’s quite an awakening if you ask me. It’s something that many of us were talking about 10+ years ago when we heard horror stories like the Target store that sent a specifically targeted flier to the parents of an under-age pregnant teen because she used her parents credit card to buy Neo-natal vitamins. And it’s on par with what protesters in other countries have experienced and were alarmed as many social websites tried to take away anonymity.

Good for them. They may not completely realize it now, but they are on the right track. It’s about time the pendulum swung back towards the anonymity side of things. Unfortunately, I think they will find out in the future that they don’t have true anonymity any more. Hopefully some of them will apply themselves to righting the wrongs that have been committed by boomers / Gen X / Gen Y.