When creating a dating app profile, I had to choose my own interests and characteristics. You get a list of tags, which are keywords you can assign to yourself, from which you have to choose five till ten. This felt really confusing to me.You can choose anything. I can choose tennis while I’ve never played tennis in my life. How do I decide who I am then? Which parts of me will I highlight?
This made me think about every platform that tries to reduce me to a couple of tags. Only dating apps are the ones where you choose them yourselves. All the others do this for you. I wanted to know who I am in their eyes.
Companies are obligated to give you access to all the data they collect about you. This is called het recht op inzage (translated the right to access). So, I did a data request at all the apps I have on my phone. Once I received all these endless lists of tags, I didn’t understand where they were based on. They didn’t cause a lot of personal reflection from my side. So, I pasted them on my wall. Piece by piece, like a map. Bit by bit, I realized where they came from.
This experience allowed me to reflect on and relate to this data self. And now I want to guide others towards this data self-discovery.
There are currently two options. Surrender by using the app or fight by deleting it. Using the platform to find yourself, without the platform hosting this, will create a new relationship which is healthier for the user. Instead of just hearing that screen time is bad for you and you shouldn't compare yourself to what you see on socials, we need to learn to relate to these platforms on a deeper level. This helps us to understand what happens behind our 'for you page' and allows us to make conscious decisions about this data self.
To discover your data self, you have to go through three phases. Each phase provides you with insights that influence the other phases.
The idea of yourself in your mind. We start with this part of the self so you have something to compare the data self to.
The idea the platform has of you. In this phase you will map out your data piece by piece while reflecting on it out loud.
As well online as offline, we try to curate ourselves more and more. Identity becomes a fragmented concept. Yet, we don’t make conscious decisions about our data self. Therefore, this experience introduces the curated self. In the last phase, you will be able to adjust your data self bases on the insights you gathered in the first two phases.
