Data Points

by Maria Larcomb | NON-FICTION CATEGORY WINNER

Researchers say that with knowing four location data points — taken from the database of metadata endlessly collected by your phone — individuals and their behavioral patterns can be uniquely identified with 92% accuracy. It’s even possible to achieve over 50% accuracy using just two data points. It’s no wonder when we spend most of our lives in the same handful of places: home, school, work, a friend’s house, so on.

These are the places we pass the majority of our time. We repeat our specific routines day in and day out, creating undeniable patterns of lines drawn between the places that play the greatest roles in our lives. We play connect the dots with these influential places, feeling their importance in our very being. However, not all places of influence are created equal. Some influential places that we repeatedly visit are simply places of obligation — places of responsibility and duty. We go to school so that one day we can go to work. We go to work so that one day our kids can go to school.

Others we go to because we want to. We go to places that feel like home, even if they are not our own. These places hold special places in our hearts — our homes away from home, safe havens in such a loud, messy world.

It’s 92% likely that I can be identified by data points at the following four frequented locations: work, school, home, and my grandparent’s house.

Their house is my home away from home — a place where we are all accepted and showered with unconditional love.

A place of influence. A place of choice.

A place of growing up. Of creating memories. Of family. Of love.