14 DAY TRIAL // US citizens are in fear of their own government, terrorists, tracking of personal data, and identity theft, as shown by a recent survey carried out by Chapman University, USA.
The survey includes answers from 1,541 adults across the US, which last spring were asked to rank 88 of their fears, organized across 10 categories: ● Crime (theft, murder, fraud) ● Daily Life (ridicule, romantic rejection, talking to strangers) ● Environment (overpopulation, pollution, global warming) ● Government (drones, corruption, immigration) ● Judgment of others (weight, age, race) ● Man-Made Disasters (terrorism, biological weapons, nuclear weapons) ● Natural Disasters (floods, hurricanes, earthquakes) ● Personal Anxieties (public speaking, tight spaces, clowns) ● Personal Future (unemployment, illness, dying) ● Technology (AI, robots, cyber-terrorism)
Racking up survey results, Chapman University researchers found out that the category with the highest score was Man-Made Disasters (2.15 out of 4), followed by Technology (2.07), Government (2.06), Environment (1.97), Personal Future (1.95), Natural Disasters (1.95), Crime (1.72), Personal Anxieties (1.63), Daily Life (1.51), and Judgment of Others (1.31).
Government corruption, America's biggest fear
Breaking down the data on individual fears, survey respondents said that they are Afraid or Very Afraid of Corruption of Government Officials in 58% of their answers, by far the most voted fear.
Second came in cyber-terrorism with 44.8% and Corporate Tracking of Personal Information with 44.6%. Terrorist Attacks came fourth with 44.4% of the vote, while Government Tracking of Personal Information was fifth with 41.4%.
Other notable fears in the top 10 include Identity Theft, Credit Card Fraud, and Economic Collapse. The least voted was the fear of what others think based on the way you dressed, which got only 4.2% of the votes.
You can see a visible trend forming in the US, where citizens are now in fear of various technologies or the government and other entities that are intruding into their personal life.
This study is somewhat contradictory to another one that said that 91% would be OK with the idea of a government backdoor into their software.
