Loss Stories

Participant 1

Participant matched this with Locked Device, Breached Account, Locked Passwords, Abuse In middle school i had to switch schools because of drama between me and another person over social media.
Participant matched this with Breached Social, Locked Social, Locked Financial, Lost Emails I've lost friends over social media.
Someone from my school committed suicide over bullying on social media.

Participant 2

When my computer failed, i lost hours of work
When my phone failed, i had to try to recover material that was on it
My car broke and we were stranded on the expressway

Participant 3

Participant matched this with Breached Social, Abuse, Lost Emails, Mental Health Relying on information to be kept safe and private but certain glitches on social media forcing things public that I do not want public as I have an active protective order against my ex husband and do not want him gaining access to anything about me.
Participant matched this with Mental Health Forgetting to unlink cards to certain accounts and profile and auto renewals getting me at a time when I really couldn’t afford it. Therefor having to go without something we actually needed
Participant matched this with Mental Health Thinking gps service will accurately work until I reach my destination but a lack of service or glitch along the way leading to me lost in a panic driving aimlessly until I reach a service point again

Participant 4

Participant matched this with Mental Health Online gambling is a lower barrier entry to developing an unhealthy addiction to gambling, which is something I struggle with.
Participant matched this with Mental Health Forced online learning during covid pandemic in my university days made it hard for me to socialize and meet other people, since I couldn't see their faces physically on campus.
n/a

Participant 5

one time i had a walkman stolen in 1994
i got an electric shock one time when i was repairing a radio
once, my laptop broke because i dropped a heavy object on the trackpad and a new one was just too expensive for me so i had to use the broken laptop for a while

Participant 6

Participant matched this with Broken Promise Reliance on GPS once caused my father and I to get directed onto a unmaintained road, where the car got stuck in the snow with no service. This was in an unmaintained road in a new state a good 2 miles from anything. After about 20 minutes and thanks to good 4 wheel drive, we were able to get the car out and find our way back to a real road (without gps) and had to call people to get proper directions.
Participant matched this with Broken Promise I have trusted technology to properly save a journal article for a class, but the images were distorted due to the file save. I did not double check as I trusted the tech, causing a negative impact to my grade in the class.
Participant matched this with Broken Promise Issues with the technology on airplanes has caused me to have delayed or cancelled flights multiple times in the past year.

Participant 7

The most harmful technology related harm or loss is my loss of time. Its so easy to get lost doom scrolling and next thing you know your day has passed by without you even noticing what has happened around me. This often then causes great distress as you feel as though you accomplished nothing on your day off or didn't truly get to relax as you were engaged heavily the whole day mentally and so I believe it has contributed to more stress in my life.
Participant matched this with Mental Health The second most harmful tech related harm would just be self confidence that is so tied to technology and especially social media that is connected to all of this. So often what I feel like that day is tied to my technology.
The third most harmful would be a loss of finances due to technology. Whether its feeling as though I need to buy the newest tech or if its spending money on the tech that I am using for apps and games.

Participant 8

Some years back i was involved in a romance scam where i got scammed out of some money, i was lucky to find out early after a sloppy mistake by them.
A family member using my drivers license creating accounts under my name, it didn’t cost me anything but it still bad.
Being bullied on the internet. Twitter to be exact

Participant 9

I was signed up for a subscription service that I had wanted to cancel. The website wasn't working correctly and using email and social media to contact them wasn't working either. I was charged and the order was never fulfilled, there is no number to contact them directly at and I have lost money and never even got the product.
I placed an order on a website that was not a legit website, it seemed ok but after the order was placed I realized it was a fake site meant to duplicate another one. I was able to do a chargeback for the order but I had concern about any stolen personal information for awhile.
Missed important communication about an agreement I needed to sign because all discussion was done via email and not in-person.

Participant 10

Participant matched this with Locked Device I left my work laptop on the roof of my car and drove off, forgetting about the laptop for several hours until it was impossible to have retraced my steps to locate the missing machine. I had significant amounts of code and code artifacts on the machine that I had not backed up because I had been unable to successfully complete the git merge because of diff errors. Once I had a replacement machine, I spent about a year trying to recreate the missing code and code artifacts.
I lost my cellphone while on vacation in a foreign country. Luckily, since I did not have cell coverage in the country and still had my laptop, I was able to connect to wifi and order a replacement phone that arrived at my house shortly after I returned home. I was also able to continue my vacation mostly uninterrupted.
Participant matched this with Breached Device, Lost Photos I was walking in a neighborhood, and noticed a beautiful garden. I stopped, took off my backpack, took out my camera, and walked closer to some of the flowers to take some pictures. While I took pictures, a group of neighborhood kids ran up, snatched my backpack with my laptop in it, and ran off. I had no backups of the data on the laptop, and lost all the personal data I had collected in my lifetime up until that point.

Participant 11

Participant matched this with Mental Health I get frequent migraines that I have attributed to my long hours of work staring at computer screens for several hours at a time.
Once, I was babysitting. The parent had installed cameras in the home to watch me while I was babysitting. They sent me a text at one point saying that they heard their child crying and asked what it was about - the kid had just become upset that I was trying to get him to clean up his toys, but I did not appreciate feeling like I was under surveillance.
n/a

Participant 12

Participant matched this with Breached Account I have been a part of a data leak where I actually had personal information stolen from me before.
Participant matched this with Abuse I have been cyberbullied in the past for some posts that I've created on Instagram
I've been getting spam calls/emails because I had my personal information out

Participant 13

Participant matched this with Replaced Device/OS, Broken Promise, Lost Emails, Mental Health the most harmful was when i accidenly dropped my usb hard drive with all my information music an ideas in the toilet it didnt work and i couldnt get all the information i had in there so from that day on i havent used a usb an just cloud since
Participant matched this with Locked Social, Broken Promise, Lost Emails, Mental Health i broke my phone one time an i got a new one ordered but i had to get in my old phone to get all the old pictures etc. out of there an i couldnt so i turned the old phone in for credit an had to lose those memories an create more
when i was 7 years old my brother dropped my only device an broke it was a dsi gaming device something i would never forget lost all my game datas an honestly made me never wanna play it again

Participant 14

Car accident where the other driver was texting
Participant matched this with Mental Health Chronic loss of sleep because of time on electronic devices
Personal data loss in online breeches

Participant 15

I would say the worst I have indirectly experienced was my mother losing her identity to an identity thief. She underwent a lot of stress, perhaps well deserved karmically. I had to deal with the repercussions of her being stressed.
Participant matched this with Broken Promise I was operating a bot farm on runescape and consistently had a french hacker using my server and trying to hack into the providers of the server. I am still concerned they somehow have access to my email.
Participant matched this with Broken Promise I haven't dealt with too many technological losses as I have been somewhat savvy network security aside. Perhaps the third worst was losing my original league of legends account to a hacker of some kind but I never figured out how.

Participant 16

My partner and I look at our screens while in bed.
I have text neck
My child is addicted to iPad

Participant 17

Information being hacked and social security number being put out there.
Participant matched this with Replaced Device/OS, Broken Promise Losing all contacts with no way to recover them at the time.
Someone trying to hack into other accounts that I have.

Participant 18

Participant matched this with Breached Financial, Locked Financial, Breached Passwords, Locked Passwords, Lost Emails I was hacked. My identity was stolen. They took out loans and credit cards in my name. They drained my bank account.
Participant matched this with Locked Device, Locked Passwords, Lost Photos My computer got a virus. I lost all of my files, music, pictures. It was devastating.
The company I work for was hacked and held ransom several years ago. They ended up paying it. But I missed a very important deadline. This cost me in bonus.

Participant 19

Comparison of my own relationship to others. This has caused fights and strain in my relationship
I got in trouble in middle school for sending a mean joking message to someone. This was something that I didn’t understand the consequences of as a young person.
Comparison of my body to others. Especially because most people are editing their bodies anyway. This has caused disordered eating for me

Participant 20

Participant matched this with Mental Health The most harmful technology-related harm I have experienced would be increased sleep deprivation and dependency on my phone. I received my first phone when I was in 6th grade and would stay up late scrolling, watching videos, and playing games. This habit has lessened since then but I am still heavily dependent on my phone and this often leads to me procrastinating on assignments and staying up late for no reason.
Participant matched this with Mental Health The second-most harmful technology-related harm I have experienced would be comparison to other people on social media. Having access to social media as young as I was had negative impacts on my mental health growing up.
Participant matched this with Broken Promise The third-most harmful technology-related loss I have experienced would be the program I was using deleting my work 40 minutes in and me having to redo the assignment quickly before the deadline.

Participant 21

Technology especially in education as prevented me as a student from actually learning as it heavily prevents students from thinking critically and communicating effectively.
Participant matched this with Abuse, Mental Health Technology, more specifically social media, causes comparison between people which can effect self esteem.
Technology can cause misinformation to circulate.

Participant 22

Participant matched this with Abuse, Mental Health A former friend bullied me through social media platforms, trying to keep my in the dark while influencing all of our shared friends.
Participant matched this with Mental Health Social media influenced my eating disorder in past years.
Participant matched this with Abuse I had a former partner lie about our sexual experiences across social media.

Participant 23

Participant matched this with Broken Promise, Lost Photos When my hard drive died I lost pretty much my entire online life from pictures to important files. It wasn't pretty and there was no way to recover my data it felt incredibly empty at the time
There was a point in time where most of my social life was basically coming from online and when I lost access to that I felt like I had no where else to go. Because I didn't at the time have a social life with other people
Participant matched this with Broken Promise, Lost Photos, Lost Emails When my Laptop died completely during a overseas business trip not only did that contain all my work related information but it was my only way to do my work on that particular trip

Participant 24

One of the most harmful technology related losses I've experienced was when a critical component of a rescue radio system I developed malfunctioned during a field test, delaying a rescue operation and potentially jeopardizing lives. This incident emphasized the importance of thorough testing and continuous improvement in mission-critical technology development.
Participant matched this with Breached Social, Breached Financial, Broken Promise, Mental Health Early in life was getting hacked in the online game ""RuneScape."" A person I trusted, whom I believed was a friend, betrayed my trust and stole most of my in-game items. This incident not only resulted in a significant loss of virtual possessions but also shattered my sense of security and trust in online interactions. It was a harsh lesson about the dangers of naively trusting others online and the importance of safeguarding personal information and accounts. This was right around the time of the Varrock massacre on 06/06/06. That's how old school I'm talking.
Participant matched this with Locked Device, Mental Health One of the most impactful turning points in my life occurred in 2014 after a traumatic incident involving the theft of my phone by a drug dealer who then assaulted me. This experience prompted me to reevaluate my life choices, leading me to make the courageous decision to stop using opiates shortly thereafter. Despite the physical and emotional toll of the assault, it served as a catalyst for positive change, marking the beginning of my journey towards recovery and a healthier lifestyle.

Participant 25

How guns and amunitions are made
Participant matched this with Locked Social how to kill
Participant matched this with Breached Social, Abuse How to access acid and how acids are made