terms of service who?

Almost every application and device that we use requires the acceptance of a terms of service. But do we actually take the time to read it? Just the Netflix terms of service alone takes an average of eleven minutes to completely read through. Are we actually going to read into detail or just scroll to the bottom and click accept to set up our account and start watching videos? The segment from NPR for the week talks about how we tend to just scroll to the very bottom and immediately hit accept without ever reading a word. They talk about an experiment where participants are presented with a terms of service and look through it. It was said in the terms of service that participants consent to surrendering their firstborn. Obviously, most participants just went to the bottom and accepted, as most of us do, and had no idea what they just consented to. They were shocked to find that that was part of the terms of service.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I know firsthand that I almost never actually read the terms of service. Even when I made the $800 purchase for a new phone awhile ago, I immediately flipped to the end of the paperwork and signed my name without a thought. Now that we're pretty much on our own in the world, we definitely need to be more cautious towards what we are consenting to and signing up for.