How India’s Generation Z Defines Privacy

Privacy, a noun, is defined in the Oxford dictionary as “the state of being free from the attention of the public”. The definition may have to be altered to capture the present context, especially in a world of incessant social media feeds where almost every aspect of a person’s life could be open to public scrutiny.

The newer, wider definition would perhaps be even more relevant to Generation Z, those who came after the millennials, the subject of much discourse of late. After all, these individuals were born into technology and many of them have had their lives documented on social media.

One aspect of privacy would entail that individuals must have control over how much of their lives are open to the public eye. Another, of course, is the ongoing debate in the country’s highest court.

A bench of the Supreme Court is hearing the validity of Aadhaar and certain aspects of privacy. So far, the anti-Aadhaar bloc has made its arguments. The central premise of the arguments presented by the petitioners on Thursday was that it is not possible to exercise fundamental rights in absence of the right to privacy. The government will present its case on Tuesday.

Far from the halls where the country’s top legal eagles ply their trade, BloombergQuint attempted to get into the minds of Gen Z. How does this group define privacy, and what would they consider a breach?

Privacy Vs Convenience

Customer behaviour is a key determinant in the strategy of several businesses, as they look to gain an insight into how people spend money. This consumer behaviour, therefore, is hot property.

Shlok Savjani, 17, a student at Mumbai-based management college ISME, says he is willing to forego his privacy to a degree if it means more convenience. The illustration he used to describe this was the ease with which he was able to procure a whey protein shake once he had started looking for it online, because Google prompted him to look at what appeared to be a value-for-money deal.

Privacy Vs Security

This, however, is something the teens simply were not willing to compromise on. The question that was asked was how they would deal with loss of personal information on account of a public database being breached.

There is no reason for someone to think twice about taking pictures or videos that they think would be for their own consumption, or to be shared with a few select people, one said.

The teens, however, admitted that boundaries had shifted from what they used to be. Content that was previously thought too private to be shared is now commonly posted on social media websites and applications like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram.

In conclusion, the view was unanimous–the decision on how much to share should be left to the individual, and he or she must have the right to privacy.