Stop disclosing personal data about your future self

Personal data is becoming more and more valuable because of new possibilities in gathering and analyzing data. Although, users integrate information systems in their most private spheres, they do not take adequate care of their privacy. In fact, they are becoming increasingly concerned about their information privacy, but act in a different way. This inconsistency in users’ behavior is known as privacy paradox. This paper takes up the psychometric measurement of future self-continuity and investigates the relationship to selected constructs of information privacy research. The results show significant correlations to the concerns users have about their privacy – an increasing future self-continuity is related with higher concerns. Thus, users should be aware of the implications their current disclosure of personal data have on their future self.