Over the weekend, NYUAD’s ResEd provided the student body with the opportunity to visit the Warner Bros. World at a discounted price. Exciting, but safe, rides, a meal, and free transportation were more than enough to convince me to join. Super excited on the day of the trip, I saw myself annoyed in the first hour, when as a part of a ride a picture of me was taken. I am sure that by buying the ticket I consented to this. Nevertheless, It annoyed me, not only because it was unflattering, but also because during a trip that was meant to be immersive into the Flintstones, Tom & Jerry, Scooby Doo’s worlds I was put back into a reality obsessed with data collection. This sort of inspired my “rewire” experience, so to complete this assignment I decided to limit to the maximum both the data I share voluntarily and the observable data, and focus instead on browsing the stack exchange, especially since I had an R assignment.

To limit the data I share and observe, I decided to delete the Facebook and Instagram apps from my phone. A while back I noticed that I only use Facebook on my laptop when needed, avoiding unnecessary scrolling, on my phone, on the other hand, I access it constantly, without a specific need. To go more “off the grid” I also changed all my privacy settings, unsubscribed from all the mailing lists, reviewed what apps I granted access to my personal data and cut the access, as well as turned off the location on my phone.

The overall experience felt nice, while some times I was tempted to reinstall Facebook or Instagram apps, I did not do so for 24 hours and as a result accessed Facebook only once that day. Using the stack overflow’s statistic communities to understand and finish my assignment made me feel like I was not wasting, but investing time in the internet. The combination of increased privacy and the use of specialised content, made me feel like I was finally using the internet as my mum wanted me to  – for responsible knowledge gaining.