Paid Privacy, The AI Gender Gap & Weird Perks
5 in 5 - Brave & Heart HeartBeat #178 ❤️
This week, we’re talking about the cost of privacy, and since when did free Facebook access become a human right? Plus, why are more men using AI than women, and who do Gen Z look up to?
Also, is the digital nomad lifestyle officially too good to be true, and are creative benefits really designed for employees?
Let's get into it.
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#1 - The Cost Of Privacy
In the style of a dystopian future where we have to pay for basic necessities, like oxygen or water, Meta and their pals are now asking us to pay for privacy. At least, that’s what the critics are saying.
Wired magazine reported on the ad-free subscription service just launched by Meta for European customers, with the headline “Facebook Finally Puts a Price on Privacy: It’s $10 a Month”.
While Meta have always stuck by their guns on the idea that an ad-supported internet means that everyone gets the same service, no matter how much money they have, European privacy regulators disagree and have backed Meta into a corner with fines and lawsuits to try and get them to change how users consent to targeted ads.
Considering Meta only argue that behavioural advertising is good for society because it makes up a huge percentage of their revenue, it’s unsurprising that their response to being asked to stop it is, sure, give us some money then.
Regulators in Europe are pretty mad about this, accusing Meta of “desperately” trying to avoid making real change to their services to abide by the law.
While we hate to be on Zuck’s side, and we’re sure he has no desire to abide by any laws that will stop him making a profit, it is interesting how critics seem to be arguing that Meta’s social networks should be a universal right.
Tobias Judin, a spokesperson for Norway’s privacy watchdog Datatilsynet (say that three times fast) says that Meta’s pay-for-privacy model “amounts to extortion”, noting that if users don’t like the paid or free models they can’t just choose an alternative social media platform.
He says “If you want to be on the same platform where all your friends and family are, most likely it will have to be Facebook or Instagram. It doesn't help switching to Pinterest.”
First of all, sick burn to Pinterest. Secondly, we hate to say it but tough luck, Zuckerberg got there first and now he’s holding all the cards. If he decided to close it all down tomorrow, technically, he could.
Facebook is a product, not a basic need. The price of privacy isn’ t $10 a month - it’s no Facebook. Maybe to prove it, and stop all the nonsense, we should all just log out for good…
#2 - AI’s Gender Gap
According to a survey from earlier this year, while 54% of men now use AI in either their professional or personal lives, only 35% of women report doing the same. Why? It depends who you ask.
AI expert Jodie Cook thinks it’s to do with the lack of women in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), noting that the current trend in the adoption of AI tools mirror the disparity of women in STEM vs men, because the skills for AI are rooted in STEM disciplines.
As only 24% of people working in STEM are women, she thinks women may feel less confident using AI tools. She also notes that as AI can still feel like science fiction, and science fiction still tends to be marketed at men, the same thing is happening with AI tools.
A psychologist’s take on the issue gives another perspective, however, as psychologist Lee Chambers thinks that female thinking and behaviour may be holding some women back from embracing AI.
He says that it’s down to the confidence gap between genders – women want to have a high level of competence in something before using it, whereas men are apparently happy to go into something, and we quote, “without much competence”. Hilarious.
It makes us think of that quote about women in the business world. “Whatever women do, they must do twice as well to be thought of as half as good”.
It makes sense that AI feels like “cheating” when women feel more of a need to prove themselves and their competence in their fields. Men, apparently, aren’t so concerned, and this disparity may lead to men getting ahead easier by using the tools that are available to their full potential, and with no shame.
#3 - Who Do Gen Z Look Up To?
A survey conducted by Morning Brew asked college students the question - who embodies success to them?
If you were to guess Mr Beast, YouTube’s most famous billionaire who spends hundreds of thousands on videos recreating Squid Game or handing out free iPhones to strangers, you couldn’t be more wrong.
Another potential guess, Elon Musk, would be close but no cigar – he came third with only 35% of the vote, while Mark Zuckerberg was way down the list, not even making it into the top 5 with 22% of the vote.
The winner, with a huge 50% of all votes is… Bill Gates. An old classic, still standing the test of time. (Bezos came second but as always, the less said about him the better…)
Bill Gates’ net worth was valued earlier this year at a staggering 110 billion dollars, and while he did apparently get a bit riled up back in the day when he was acting CEO of Microsoft, his public persona is a stark contract to current millionaire celebs.
Unlike Elon Musk, he doesn't seem to think of himself as the second coming of Jesus, and unlike Bezos, he dresses in a normal, understated, age appropriate way. And of course, he famously gives away a LOT of his money to charity.
The results of the poll suggest that young people still consider traditional industry titans to be the epitome of success, even though the influencer economy is currently pumping out a new generation of gazillionaires with a very different philosophy to wealth than Mr Gates.
#4 - Digital Nomads – Too Good To Be True?
An opinion piece in the Guardian’s “Why I Quit” column tells the story of a freelance journalist who became a digital nomad to try and make the most of their freedom after Covid lockdowns and a breakup, but discovered it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
Following the lead of digital nomads on Instagram, she worked from Berlin, Barcelona, Brooklyn, Geneva, Abu Dhabi and more – pursuing the fantasy of picking her hours and surfing on her lunch breaks.
She quickly realised that for her, trying to have the best of both worlds meant having the worst of both, and the best of neither. While unable to concentrate on her work due to tiny Airbnb home offices, stifling heat or the disorientation of living out of a suitcase, she wasn’t even able to relax and enjoy her leisure time either.
She recounts having to rush out of a dinner with new friends to conduct a skype interview for a story at a reasonable hour for their time difference, and working on her laptop in the shade looking enviously at tourists relaxing by the pool.
Due to stress about the cost of travelling, she also ended up overworking herself, not taking the appropriate measures freelancers need to take to avoid burnout – especially when living where they work, or in this case, going on holiday where you work.
She admits that she blurred reality on her Instagram page, with snaps of her laptop in front of a gorgeous view being posted while the reality of losing her luggage and flight delays playing havoc with her work schedule remained offline.
While we CAN technically work from anywhere in the age of remote working, it doesn’t necessarily mean we should…
#5 - Employee Perks Go Off Script
While employee perks can vary from the basic pension programme, a nice office chair and nothing else, to unlimited vacation or holiday buy-back schemes and discounts for retail services, some companies are getting creative with it.
Manchester-based entrepreneur Ash Jones announced on LinkedIn that he gives his staff a “life admin half-day” per month – paid leave to deal with the life stuff we all avoid (going to the post office, doing taxes, etc) because as he notes, the last thing anyone wants to do on the weekend is life admin.
London-based ticketing-app company Dice offers their employees four hangover days per year, allowing them to call in sick with a hangover with no judgement. The measure fits with their company culture, as the CEO & founder notes that the team live for music, and the last thing you want to do after a heavy night out at a gig is come into work. He also notes that it allows them to foster honesty in the company, as people don’t have to fake a sick day to nurse their hangover in peace.
A recent survey asked employees what kind of perks they’d like in their office, and the responses ranged from normal to err okay… 23% of them would be happy at Dice, suggesting hangover leave would be a great idea, with 17% wanting breakup leave and 6% wanting a premium dating app subscription to be included in their contract…
In a tight job market, tailored employee benefits can make a big difference in attracting and retaining talent, but some of these companies boasting “creative” benefits do have us wondering if they’re doing it more for the LinkedIn clout than anything else…
Brave & Heart over and out.
Bonus
Do You Know Where The Aliens Are?
The US pentagon weirdly chose Halloween to announce that they’ve opened a website where former employees can log their UFO experiences.
If you’re looking to prank them, good luck, because they’ve also announced that any “wilful” fake entries to their website will be punished with the full power of the law…
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