Our newest hire, Prof. Rohan Grover, has published a new piece in The Conversation. It is titled, “Why people don’t demand data privacy — even as governments and corporations collect more personal information,” and is co-authored with Josh Widera. The Conversation is a significant way for research to reach a broader audience (featuring articles from than 1200 colleges and universities).
The reason that people don’t demand digital privacy, they argue, is that the constant stream of data scandals and privacy violations leaves them with little choice but to feel numb. That doesn’t mean people are apathetic. Instead, Grover and Widera describe this condition as “data disaffection” — clinging to numbness as a survival strategy when resistance feels futile. They argue that the way out of data disaffection requires more than individual responsibility or new laws. It demands shifting cultural narratives and public storytelling so that data abuses and scandals are not normalized or treated as inevitable.