Leave the Links out of Your Wish List

Here’s a quick tip on how NOT to make your wish list this holiday season. Don’t send links. If you’ve got a bunch of gift ideas to share with someone, write them down. Type them out. Talk about it. But don’t send an email or text full of links. Here’s why.

You scour the internet for the things you want to buy for the holidays. Your partner does the same. Your kids, online natives that they are, do the same. You all copy the URLs to sites offering the products and services you like and paste them into texts or emails that you soon send to each other. Voila. A wish list. But think about all the data you’ve generated, gathered, and served up to Big Tech’s advertisers, market researchers, and product developers. All wrapped up and tied in a bow.

Those faceless entities know what you and your family members want, where you tend to look for it, and whom you’re close to. Soon they’ll know how much you all spend during the holidays. All that information will then be used to shape what you see on the internet and what deals you’re offered. Is it what you want? Who knows. It is, though, what THEY want. And that’s a problem, especially when it comes to kids. Their online experience should be as free of manipulation as possible. And their personal information? It should belong to them for as long as possible.

Gathering links is quick and easy. But when putting together your wish list, there are better, safer ways to get—and give—what you want this holiday season.