The app that tells us what we’re like – but should we be using it?

Spotify Wrapped says it can tell us the 'real story' about our cultural tastes. But should we be using it? asks Mark Smith

An app I use every day (and there’s a good chance you use it too) says it can show us who we are, it can put a mirror up to our ‘moments, moods and memories’, it will be the ‘real story’, uniquely ours. And so, because I’m weak, I press the button and let the app do its thing and it comes back and tells me I’m 58 years old. 58? Bloody cheek! I’m 55 and three-quarters.

The app in question, Spotify, made the guess at my age based on my tastes in music, audiobooks and podcasts because for the last 12 months it’s been keeping track of my music, audiobooks and podcasts and is now passing judgment. No doubt I allowed the app to do it when I didn’t read the terms and conditions, which is a reminder of how often, and how casually, we permit stuff like this to happen while also complaining about cameras and ID cards and the surveillance society. In case you hadn’t noticed, we lost the argument years ago, to our phones.

But let’s not get too serious yet. No doubt the data Spotify collects is useful to the people who run it because it means they can more effectively target us with stuff they think we’ll like and therefore keep us hooked on the app. But the annual recap of our listening habits that guessed I was 58, Spotify Wrapped, isn’t something a lot of us worry about because, even though it told me I’m middle-aged, it flatters us: it tells us that the sort of stuff we like, the music, the books, our cultural choices, is really interesting. And it also happens to get things right.

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