People would sacrifice photos on their phones for just 10.37EUR, Kaspersky Lab study reveals

While people claim to value their memories more than any other form of data stored on their digital devices, they are happy to sell them for little money, research by Kaspersky Lab shows. A survey has shown that for 49% of people, private and sensitive photos of themselves are the most precious data they have on their devices, followed by photos of their children and spouses. The thought of losing these precious memories is considered more distressing for them than the prospect of a car accident, breaking up with a partner, or a quarrel with a friend or family member. However, when confronted with the decision to delete this data for money, people nevertheless gave their digital data – such as photos – away for as little as 10.37EUR.

When asked, people say that digital memories have a special place in their hearts, perhaps because these memories are considered to be irreplaceable. Over two-fifths, for example, say they would n’t be able to replace photos and videos of their travels (45%), their children (44%) or themselves (40%). The survey shows that the thought of losing these precious memories is considered very distressing by most people. In fact, this latest study from Kaspersky Lab indicates that people often value their devices and photos even more than their partners, friends and pets.

The participants of the experiment conducted for Kaspersky Lab by media psychologists at the University of Wuerzburg were asked to place a monetary value on the data stored on their smartphones – including photos of family and friends, contact information and personal documents. Surprisingly, the values people placed on their data were significantly lower than expected, considering the distress they said they would experience if they were to lose that data. People tended to put more money against their financial and payment details (an average 13.33EUR) than other forms of data. Contact information was considered to be worth 11.89EUR on average and general photos were valued at only 10.37EUR on average.