I began this series seven months ago with one of the topics that matters most to me: young people and their right to information.

With that in mind, I tried to encourage the idea that well-informed young people have a far better chance of making good decisions in life, and that it is precisely these young people who can help improve society as a whole.

But we should never forget that when we say information is power, that power can be both positive and negative. Because good information is, first and foremost, only useful to the person who possesses it, and many others may end up depending on what that person decides to do with it.

Several years ago, after conducting research with young people at work, we discovered that a large number of them were relatively unconcerned about what personal information about them could be found online. For me, and for many older people, that was quite a shock. But gradually, I began to better understand their perspective. I found this shift in mentality fascinating: for them, it did not matter if embarrassing photos existed on Facebook, because everyone else in their generation had equally compromising photos online. That had simply become a new status quo. And if everyone was in the same situation, then perhaps the argument itself was neutralised… or was it?

What about you, for example? If someone asks you how much money you earn or who you vote for, do you tell them? Do you only share that information with people you trust? Or do you never share it at all? I was raised believing that such things were nobody else’s business. But is that necessarily so much better?

Have you ever tried buying something in instalments? You know, those offers where you can pay a small amount every month at 0% interest? Do you realise how much personal information you are expected to provide just to borrow what is, comparatively speaking, a rather small amount of money?

I can imagine the same logic applying in many other contexts. And that immediately makes me think of the many databases in which information is constantly collected. Why is all that information gathered? Because information gives power.

And that is precisely why, when someone asks me what my profession is, my first reflex is often to ask: “Why?” And if I cannot avoid answering, I simply say: “Employee.” That should be enough. And when someone insists on having my phone number and tells me, “It’s only for the system,” I sometimes feel tempted to simply give a fake number.

In my opinion, a healthy rule is to only share information that you would be comfortable with the entire world knowing. And no matter what, we should always remain aware of the power that information can give — whether to ourselves or to others.

That is also why it is so important to set a good example for young people: by using good information to make better decisions, while at the same time teaching them that some information should remain private.