STRANGERS WITH CANDY, & THE HERD MENTALITY

We were all told as children not to take candy from strangers. Look at us all now, having been offered the sweetest treat imaginable, and most of us gobbling it up quite willingly. The treat is seemingly limitless technology at our fingertips.

How is that bad? Well, the strangers who gave us that candy now track our every word, whim, and movement. And we are so happy with our sweet treats that we try not to care that they're doing that. 

To make things worse, the strangers have opened back doors for other characters with very bad intentions who can enter into our spheres.
Here's how I rationalize this risk to myself. Safety in numbers. I and my accounts which are full of information are but one target within a herd of millions, like a life and death chase on the Serengeti. What are the chances that I will be the one data buffalo singled out by the information predator?

And does some nefarious information collecting program really want to see a text in which I've invited a friend to lunch? Or might my blog attract untoward attention? There are millions just like it.

Statistically, those of us Americans who live regular, typical lives, at least as of today, probably will not have a negative, life changing event caused by the information sweep of the planet that is currently going on. 

But we could. And we each need to be and continue to stay vigilant about our own data footprints, and have a healthy wariness for those strangers with candy.