Siri, Google Maps, a doorbell camera, a cookie pop-up: Isaac Adjei, a Texas State graduate student, moves through a day filled with everyday tech that asks for a little bit of his information. This photo story follows him through the small choices most of us make without thinking of the consequences
Isaac Adjei, 24, a graduate student in digital media communication at Texas State University shows the devices he uses day to day: a virtual reality headset, an Apple Watch, AirPods, over-ear headphones, an Amazon Echo smart speaker, an iPad and PlayStation controllers. 
Adjei looks off to the side as Google Maps sits open on his phone at home. He said Uber seemed to know where he was headed before he booked a ride to school. He now blocks tracking between apps. Both apps ask for access to a phone’s location. 
Adjei activates Siri on his iPhone to ask about the traffic on the way to school. Voice assistants are one of the phone features many people use without thinking about it. Siri may send information such as audio and location to Apple to process a request. 
Adjei double-taps a video in his TikTok feed as he waits. He said he now blocks tracking between apps after ads he had been searching for began showing up in his feed. 
Adjei asks an Amazon Echo smart speaker what the weather is like in San Marcos, Texas. The speaker’s blue light ring glows when it responds. Adjei said he does worry about what the speaker records, even when he isn’t directly speaking to it. 
Adjei is seen putting in wireless AirPods in his ear which he uses to listen to music and podcasts daily. AirPods can use the location services for tracking purposes. 
Adjei puts on his Apple Watch on his wrist. He said he does use its health-tracking features, such as heart rate and for workouts, and he does worry about where that information goes. 
Adjei presses the button on his video doorbell on. Adjei said even when the blue light isn’t activated that it is still recording. 
Adjei checks the privacy settings on his phone at. He said he blocks tracking between apps, so that different apps can’t pull information about what he looks up from one another. 
Adjei traces the boundary of his play area with a VR controller in his living room. The headset’s outward-facing cameras track where it is in the room, and the user draws a boundary on the floor during setup. 
Adjei uses a virtual reality headset in his living room for his class, Culture Industries of Emerging Technologies. Adjei said he does think about what information the headset gathers, and he is concerned. 
Adjei connects to the free wifi. The Federal Trade Commission advises people to send personal information over public networks only when it is encrypted, either by a secure website or a secure network. 
Adjei shows an ad for Chicken Salad Chick’s Nashville Hottie menu that appeared in his social media feed while he was eating at the restaurant in. Adjei said he hadn’t searched for the restaurant that day. 
Adjei moves his cursor over the “Accept Additional Cookies” button on a pop-up while visiting a website. Adjei said he usually rejects non-essential cookies, or all of them, when a site gives him the option. 
Adjei holds a PlayStation 5 controller. He said that after he kept searching for the console online, ads for it appeared everywhere in his feed. PlayStation says PS5 owners can choose whether it collects only the data needed to run its services or more, and whether their information is used to show personalized ads in its products and on third-party apps and sites.
