You’re so predictable! Well, there are worse things.

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

Do you think of yourself as a spontaneous person? Probably.

It’s almost shameful to admit otherwise, right?

Who wants to be seen as set in their ways with everything in their life completely planned out, always ordering the same food (takeaway only now of course!)?

Spontaneous people are considered fun, carefree, open to new experiences, not bound by prejudices and generally, unpredictable.

So what’s the opposite of spontaneous? Yes, predictable.

Predictability is perceived as both a somewhat dull but also stable and dependable character trait. You know what you like and we know what to expect of you.

Spontaneous people can on the other hand be seen as flaky, unstable, immature and without own opinion. Will she show up for the meeting today, will she say something inappropriate, will she suddenly say she’s a vegan?

Ultimately we are all predictable. People who know us can predict our actions by our character (and our past behaviour). And like it or not, we are all part of a social structure that requires adherence to certain rules and lifestyle.

I could in theory dress like an 18thC queen and walk down the street tomorrow, this would be totally unpredictable! But well, I don’t really need to. I will wear my jeans again. It takes some self-confidence to be unpredictable and eccentric. But even unpredictability can become predictable.

Now, in Covid lockdowns, we are even more predictable than ever. We have little room to move. Though people’s responses to the pandemic have sometimes been unpredictable (surprising), spontaneity is a figment of fantasy now. Can’t just drop by at a friend’s place for a surprise dinner. Want to hop in the car and drive overnight to Barcelona, just for fun? Nope, can’t.

Uncomfortable Predictability

Nevertheless, if I hear that I am predictable I feel a little nervous twitch as I hate to think of myself as such. I hate to think I might be so simple in my cognitive construction and lacking of daily excitement that other people can with some certainty know what I am thinking or doing.

But of course, I am predictable, and I have to accept it. I am a person with some fixed ideas, opinions, character peculiarities, restrictions within my lifestyle and limitations to how much my mind can stretch, sadly.

When I talk with my parents in NZ (where there is daily normality and freedom) they always ask me “Where are you”? Well, I am at home. Working. My location and actions are pretty predictable.

As teenagers, we are nothing but spontaneous - in our minds at least. To be predictable is instant coolness death. But to our parents, we are still completely predictable. Did you mum also tell you “I know you better than you know yourself?”. Uncomfortable, right?

Mummy knows best

Well, now we have hundreds of companies that are our digital mummy.

We know the main ones - Google mummy, Facebook mummy, Amazon mummy and we still play along because these mummies are so generous with their love and things they do for us. And we are rewarding them with our exclusive dependency.

Amazon has since 2014 executed not only predictive shopping as a competitive strategy but “anticipatory shipping” as a patented system to bedazzle customers. Amazon wants to send your order even before you place it; Jeff Bezos’ firm working on this tech - The Financial Express. This means that they will identify, package and ship items to you before you even realise you needed them. How predictable do you feel?

I know many people love this, it’s the miracle of digitalisation and personalisation that makes our life effortless, contactless and convenient. It IS amazing. But it freaks me out.

Even if the item turned out to be something I wanted, I would send it back just to prove them wrong. If it sounds like a teenage tantrum, it is in a way.

As a teenager we search for our identity and our own value system beyond what our parents have instilled in us. It is a confusing time for both kids and parents (for the parents mostly frustrating!).

We have to be more like proverbial teenagers in our digital existence - be skeptical, be critical, don’t believe what they tell you. Sometimes do the opposite. Confuse and frustrate the digital mummy.

Predictable’s evil twin - being Predicted

Being predictable is actually not so bad after all.

It’s a small fish to fry. There is safety, stability, comfort.

It’s part of our relationship with others and how we can also build trust. We can work on being (on not) predictable.

Take a different route to the supermarket, wear something different to usual, don’t say No immediately to the kids if they ask for dessert (my son always says “oh she will say no anyway”, such crushing predictability).

Predictability is ok. It’s in our control, it can help us and if we want to we can challenge it with some spontaneity.

The evil twin of being known, is being predicted.

Especially in the context of commerce, media, recruitment, finance and advertising. Healthcare too, oh yes, but this is a more rocky ground for discussion as there are so many life saving advantages to prediction in healthcare.

But I don’t want to be predicted. I am not temperature to be forecasted.

I’d rather simply be predictable rain in Autumn.

All the websites we visit, searches and clicks we make build up our digital profile that will be auctioned for ads, that will be targeted with products based on a maximum likelihood (prediction) of purchase conversion and that will go into a big pool of other algorithmically similar souls for understanding us, the profitable mass, better.

Daddy cool

I admit, being in tech might make me all the more tech paranoid than most, and this causes certain inconveniences.

For example, I turn off Siri for everything on my phone and if I need to find an app on my phone, the search function doesn’t work so I can’t find the app. Because Siri search has also been disabled.

I also always turn off Location Services as soon as I don’t need them. I don’t want to be tracked.

But in cases where I have a second to make a decision on a motorway exit (mostly as a passenger!), I get all stressed to find the right menu options, turn them on, open the map, find my location and type in our destination that I end up dropping the phone (and missing the exit). My husband then laughs at me for being so inconveniently paranoid.

It's my right, even if it is slightly annoying at times.

Chances are pretty high, I am just an insignificantly predicted atom in an endless and impersonal digital galaxy, but at least I feel I have a say.

I feel I have some control and I am making conscious decisions aligned to my identity and values. I feel my digital teenager is maturing.

How to turn off Google’s Activity Tracking and Ad Personalization.

Out of curiosity, I decided to check what Google has on me within my account (yes I still have one :/) in terms of what it communicates to advertisers - interests, demographics and activity.

To my disappointment (and delight) I had actually turned off all tracking exactly two years ago.

But why don’t you try it, and even better, also turn it off!

It’s really not hard - 4 steps. You will feel better for it, I’m sure.

How to disable your Google search data activity, Ad personalization, search history, search settings on your browser? | by Mr.Vic | FAUN | Dec, 2020 | Medium

And for the additionally curious:

How to stop Google from tracking everything you do online

Here is the last activity Google recorded for me before I turned off the tracking settings.

I must’ve been in a good mood :)!

Stay cool, stay predictable and be un-predicted.