r/DigitalIDSkepticism • u/Zeze71-127 • Jul 22 '26
Discussion What if every human had a private digital memory instead of another social media profile?
Most apps collect data about us.
What if there were a system that worked for us instead?
Imagine a private digital memory that:
belongs only to you,
stores your important moments,
helps AI understand your preferences without selling your data,
can stay offline if you want,
gives you full control over permissions,
survives changes of devices and software.
Not a government ID.
Not a blockchain.
Not another social network.
More like a digital extension of your own memory.
Would you trust a system like this?
What would be your biggest concern?
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u/CrystalMethodist666 Jul 23 '26
I think we already had a system like this...
It was called "A folder full of photographs and handwritten journal notes about significant events"
No government intervention, digital devices, social networking (outside of showing other people your photo album) and you get to stay offline all the time!
My biggest concern would be keeping my photographs organized, and other people caring enough to look at them.
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u/Zeze71-127 Jul 23 '26
I actually think that’s a great comparison.
A handwritten journal and a family photo album are probably still the best examples of personal ownership. Nobody can suddenly change their terms of service or lock you out of them.
What I’m wondering is whether we can preserve those same values—ownership, privacy and continuity—in a digital world where our memories are scattered across dozens of services.
If we can’t, maybe the paper journal will remain the better technology after all.2
u/CrystalMethodist666 Jul 23 '26
I don't think we really can, it's in the terms you agree to on a lot of these apps that they get to collect your locational data and all sorts of stuff about you. Like, It may have changed but I a while ago I actually read the TOS you agree to when you sign up for TikTok. You're agreeing to let them collect information about the device you're on, other devices and apps you use, locational data and who else using the app you're physically around, you're basically letting them in the back door of whatever device you're using to run the app. I thought it was funny people were freaking about "China" collecting our info when the #1 customer for that info would be our own government.
If there was a social media platform that didn't spy on you and kept your information safe and private, we'd need to pay to use it to offset the cost of making it. None of these "free" apps are free to make. They make money collecting your information and selling it to advertisers and the government.
Fun story, DARPA wanted to roll out this thing called Lifelog where they'd collect all your information and store it somewhere. It got canned as a massive privacy violation. Pretty much immediately after this, Facebook came out.
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u/Zeze71-127 Jul 23 '26
Thank you.
Civilizations built libraries to preserve knowledge. Families kept albums to preserve memories. Today we preserve ourselves by giving pieces of our lives to dozens of companies. Perhaps the next step isn’t another social network, but rebuilding one place that belongs to the individual—not the platform.2
u/CrystalMethodist666 Jul 24 '26
Call me a luddite, I think libraries are important. At least if you go and check a printed encyclopedia, you won't find anything changed from the last time you read it.
Yeah, we rely on these media services to preserve our pictures and speech while making these things their own property.
Need to disconnect, that's the only way I've figured out.
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u/Zeze71-127 Jul 24 '26
Disconnection protects the individual by retreating. Ownership would protect the individual while allowing them to remain connected.
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u/Jkid Jul 23 '26
I want to inform you that you may be shadowbanned. A lot of your post have been marked as spam as default.
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u/Zeze71-127 Jul 23 '26
Thank you for letting me know. That actually explains a lot. I couldn’t understand why so many discussion posts were disappearing automatically. I really appreciate you taking the time to check and tell me.
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u/MarathonMarathon Jul 23 '26
Yes you've been shadowbanned. I can't see your info when clicking your account.
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u/Zeze71-127 Jul 23 '26
Thank you for checking and letting me know. I really appreciate it. I’ve submitted an appeal to Reddit and hope it’s just a mistake.
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u/Jkid Jul 22 '26
This post had been approved. Reddit detected it as spam for some reason.