Wearable TraceTogether token: 57% willing to wear it. You leh?
PHOTO: The Straits Times
PUBLISHED ONJune 19, 2020 2:53 AMByJanelle Yong
Although things are slowly going back to normal with the start of Safe Reopening Phase 2 tomorrow, we're not out of the woods yet when it comes to Covid-19.
To address the ongoing need for effective contact tracing, the Singapore government is planning to roll out a wearable tracking token that can be used as an alternative to the TraceTogether app, which often does not work properly on Apple devices.
Predictably, this announcement garnered a rather polarising response from Singaporeans. According to a YouGov survey released today, 57 per cent of Singaporeans indicated that they would be willing to wear or carry such a token.
61 per cent of those over the age of 55 are willing to carry a tracking token while respondents aged 35 to 44 are far less willing, with only 52 per cent of them responding positively. In addition, women (58 per cent) are more willing to carry a token than men (55 per cent).
It appears that the biggest concern by detractors is privacy infringement, with 58 per cent expressing concern about their privacy.
This is followed by other issues like inconvenience (43 per cent), lack of user-friendliness (27 per cent) and doubts about the token's effectiveness (20 per cent). (Never mind that wearing a token is probably more effective than, you know, not wearing one at all.)
Overall, 45 per cent of Singaporeans indicate that they would be willing to trust the government with their private data. However, there is a vast divide between those who are and aren't willing to wear the token.
While 64 per cent of those willing to wear the token trust the government with their data, only 20 per cent of those who aren't willing to wear one feel the same way.
However, regardless of how much they trust the government, 42 per cent of Singaporeans would be willing to forgo their privacy for the time being in the name of battling Covid-19 as a nation.
As with before, this differs greatly between those willing and unwilling to wear tracking tokens (62 per cent vs 15 per cent).
Meanwhile, 47 per cent agree that Singaporeans shouldn't be afraid of wearing the token if they have nothing to hide.
This sentiment is echoed more strongly by older Singaporeans, with 52 per cent of those aged 55 and above agreeing with this statement compared to only 41 per cent of those aged 25 to 34.
Probably because you're more likely to see younger Singaporeans gallivanting about carelessly and violating safe distancing guidelines than ah gongs and ah mas.
This article was first published in Wonderwall.sg.