In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, hosts Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss whether it is beneficial to take a break from technology and if increased tracking of consumers through their technology is inevitable. Dennis and Tom were both recently on vacation and during this time of seclusion Dennis started to rethink his relationship with technology. His decreased use of email and sporadic access to social media led him to question if a controlled break from technology was beneficial in simplifying one's approach to tech use. Tom stayed much more connected during his vacation and came to the conclusion that he doesn’t want to take a break from technology. Leveraging the maps, apps, and entertaining content tech provides, in his opinion, helps him to supplement the activities that he likes to do. They both encourage anyone feeling overwhelmed by tech to take an audit of their use and find ways to be more efficient and remove unsustainable habits. They end the segment with an analysis of how a complete break from technology can affect a lawyer’s practice and their relationship with their clients.

In the second segment of the podcast, Dennis and Tom take a look at the concept of tracking consumers through their technology and whether or not the growth of this trend is inevitable. Dennis admits that he is wary to enable tracking on his devices and that this caution is also why he doesn’t use social media often when he travels. However, he also recognizes that the services he relies upon like browser searches and mobile applications would be greatly improved if he enabled more tracking. Tom does feel that tracking is inevitable but also emphasizes that transparency over what is collected and control over how much you share is incredibly important to him. They both analyze what this complex social contract might look like as tracking capabilities and the categories that are tracked continue to increase. As always, stay tuned for Parting Shots, that one tip, website, or observation you can use the second the podcast ends.

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