Americans’ Tangled Relationship with Technology and Privacy

With all that’s happening in the U.S. federal government agencies, I delved into how Americans feel about technology and their privacy in my latest piece for the American Communities Project.

“In the first few weeks of President Trump’s new term, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has moved to access data from the Treasury Department, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Social Security Administration, potentially unlocking the personal information of millions of Americans. The overall concern, including lawsuits filed by state governments and labor unions, was captured in the recent New York Times article ‘Struggle Over Americans’ Personal Data Plays Out Across the Government.’

“Amid the alarm and legal battles, the American Communities Project sought to better understand Americans’ feelings and behaviors on technology and privacy generally and government and business specifically, based on questions about technology attitudes in the latest MRI-Simmons consumer survey of American households taken between September 2021 and August 2023, and then segmented into the ACP’s 15 community types in fall 2024.

“The analysis reveals that Americans across the 15 community types have a deeply dependent if sometimes uncomfortable relationship with technology and the Internet. Also, by and large, Americans do not express trust in the federal government to protect their privacy. But across the board, they do not feel they can take action if their personal information appears online. To be in such sync on important issues seems rare and worth watching now. It’s hard to know if and how these numbers will move post DOGE. In many ways, the numbers should be viewed as a pre-DOGE baseline.”

Visit my full story here.