Most people know social media isn’t free — it’s paid for with the collection of its users’ sometimes-sensitive information. Your GPS system keeps track of your movements, and your smart TV can watch you. Almost all the information these devices collect can be sold to companies or used by authorities to keep tabs or gather evidence. Meanwhile, we use technology so frequently because of its efficiency and convenience. Is the trade-off worth it, or are we selling our souls to the devil?

SafeHome.org Team surveyed 1,019 people aged 18 and older about their opinions on security and electronic devices and whether they felt the risk to privacy was worth the security and convenience benefits. As it turns out, some feel technology is far too convenient to give up despite its flaws, while others would trash their devices if they found out it was spying on them.

Interestingly, three major factors appear to have an impact on which aspect of privacy violation they find most shocking — age, gender and occupation.

Different generations have different relationships with technology and, as such, have different concerns about privacy. Those 65 and older appeared to be very distrustful of technology, recording higher levels of concern than younger generations in almost every field. Those aged 45 — 64 all found location tracking, home security, and smart device privacy issues to be the most threatening. From age 18 to 44, the data trends looked rather similar. A distrust of social media existed, but they regarded fitness trackers, and public surveillance (监视) as less of an issue than older generations.

While men and women seemed to have the same concerns about privacy in the digital age, a few interesting aspects existed. Women were more concerned overall with identity and location tracking. Men had concerns with these issues as well but perhaps didn’t feel as physically threatened by them. The place where men took more issues than women was the selling of personal data to advertisers and monitoring of conversations and activities.

Re-purposing diapers to make building materials would reduce the amount of garbage that goes to a landfill. It could also make homes more affordable. Maybe giving used diapers a new use could help tackle both problems.

Building material—especially those that are used for strengthening structures — are often expensive. They’re often the biggest hurdle to making homes affordable. So researchers have previously investigated unusual materials that could save costs. These materials included many that would otherwise pile up as waste, such as fly ash.

“There is a big need in developing countries such as the Southeast Asian nation, Indonesia. There, demand for low-cost housing outstrips what’s available. The number of people in Indonesia’s cities has climbed by about 4 percent per year in the last 30 years. By 2025, more than two-thirds of Indonesians are expected to live in urban areas. Indonesia’s population boom is intensifying the demand for housing,” says Siswanti Zuraida, an environmental engineer in Indonesia.

“Despite the need for more affordable housing, there are significant problems that stand in the way of adopting diapers,” Zuraida says. Used diapers contain wood pulp, cotton and plastic, which are potentially useful building materials. Diapers plastic components would have to be separated from the organic fibers, a complicated recycling process currently available only in developed nations. And Indonesia’s building regulations restrict together-materials to bricks, wood, steel and concrete (which is used to hold bricks together) — materials that also bear a high cost in terms of carbon emissions.

But reusing diapers might not be that environmentally friendly, especially on a large scale. “It’s tricky to separate dirty diapers from waste and disinfect them. So it would take a lot of energy to recycle diapers. It’s maybe worthwhile to start thinking about ways to replace single-use diapers with something less frequently thrown away,” says Christof Schrofl, a chemist who works at Technische Universität Dresden in Germany.