Privacy

Privacy hits different for everyone depending on age and culture. These questions explore personal boundaries, online security, and how much information we’re comfortable sharing.

Questions are organized by level from beginner to advanced. A printable PDF of all the questions is available at the bottom of the page.

Beginner (A1-A2)

1. Do you like to spend time alone? What do you usually do?
2. What apps do you have on your phone? Do your friends or family ever look at them?
3. Do you have your own room at home, or do you share it? What is it like?
4. Who knows the most about you? What do they know?
5. Do you use a nickname online, or do you use your real name? Why?
6. Does it bother you when people you don’t know take photos with you in the photos? Why or why not?
7. Where do you go when you want to make a private phone call? Why there?
8. Do you have a diary or a place where you write private things? What do you write about?
9. Do you talk about money with your friends or family? Why or why not?
10. Has someone ever looked through your bag or backpack without asking? How did you feel?

Elementary (A2)

1. Where do you like to go when you want to be alone? What do you like about that place?
2. Do you close the door when you are in your room? Why?
3. What do you do when someone is talking loudly on the phone in a public place?
4. What do you do when someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer?
5. Do you cover your computer screen when other people walk by? Why?
6. Where do you keep important things? Why there?
7. Have you ever found out that someone read your private messages? What happened?
8. Have you ever had a nosy neighbor? Tell me about it.
9. What information do you never share online? Why not?
10. Have you ever accidentally seen something private that you shouldn’t have? What happened?
11. What is the most private room in your home? What makes it so private?
12. Have you ever overheard a private conversation by accident? Tell me about it.
13. Do you let other people use your computer or phone? Why or why not?
14. What kind of questions feel too personal to answer? Give me some examples.
15. What is the most private thing you own? What makes it so private?
16. What is the most embarrassing thing someone could find on your phone? What makes it so embarrassing?

Intermediate (B1)

1. How much do you value your privacy? Why is it important to you?
2. Do you think that websites like Facebook take away too much of your privacy? Why or why not?
3. Do you think people have the right to privacy? Why or why not?
4. Should convicted criminals have the same right to privacy as everyone else? Why or why not?
5. Do you think the Internet increases privacy or takes away privacy? What makes you think so?
6. What is the greatest threat to privacy? What makes it so dangerous?
7. Should there be more, or fewer, security cameras around cities? Why or why not?
8. Do you prefer to live in a house or an apartment for more privacy? Why?
9. Do you prefer hotels or staying with friends when you travel? Why?
10. Should companies be allowed to sell your personal information to other companies? Why or why not?
11. Do you think people share too much about their personal lives on social media? What kinds of things should they keep private?
12. Should parents be allowed to read their children’s text messages? Why or why not?
13. If you could read anyone’s private messages for one day, would you do it? Why or why not?
14. Is there a difference between keeping something private and keeping a secret? How so?
15. Would you live in a house with glass walls if the rent was free? Why or why not?
16. If a friend shared something private about you without asking, how would you react? Is that common in your culture?
17. Should your doctor, your boss, or your family be able to see your medical records? Why or why not?
18. What role does privacy play in healthy relationships? How much privacy should partners have from each other?

Upper-Intermediate (B2)

1. The only people who need privacy are people who are doing something illegal. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
2. Should the public have access to corporate records? What are the benefits and risks of that kind of transparency?
3. How transparent should a government be?
4. How is privacy viewed in your culture?
5. How has the rise of smart devices like voice assistants and smart TVs changed what privacy means in our own homes? What do you think about those changes?
6. How is privacy viewed differently across generations? Why do you think older and younger people often disagree about what should be kept private?
7. Some companies track their employees’ computer activity, location, or even keystrokes during work hours. What are the benefits and risks of this kind of workplace monitoring?
8. How has facial recognition technology changed the balance between public safety and personal privacy? Is it different from regular security cameras?
9. When someone dies, who should have the right to access their emails, social media accounts, and private files? What makes this so complicated?
10. Targeted advertising uses your personal data to show you products you are more likely to buy. How is this different from traditional advertising, and is it a problem?
11. Some people put tape over their laptop cameras. Do you think this is a reasonable precaution, or is it overly paranoid? What does this say about how much we trust technology companies?
12. People willingly share personal details on social media but get upset when companies collect the same data. What do you think explains this contradiction?
13. Governments say they need more surveillance to keep people safe, but history shows that surveillance powers are often abused. How should societies handle this tension?
14. When a major data breach happens and millions of people’s personal information is exposed, who should be held responsible: the company that was hacked, the hackers, or the government for not having stronger regulations?
15. Employers increasingly check job candidates’ social media profiles before hiring them. Is it fair to judge someone’s professional ability based on their personal online life? Where should the line be?
16. Health apps and wearable devices collect detailed data about our bodies: heart rate, sleep patterns, location, and more. If insurance companies or employers could access this data, how would it change the way people live?
17. How do privacy laws simultaneously protect individuals and create barriers for law enforcement and public health? What tensions arise from trying to balance both?

Advanced (C1)

1. In many countries, companies know more about individual citizens than the government does. What are the consequences of so much personal data being in private hands rather than public ones?
2. Social media has made it almost impossible to truly “start over” because your past is always searchable. How does this affect the way people grow and change?
3. When companies use AI to predict your behavior from your data, at what point does understanding become manipulation? Where is the ethical boundary?
4. How does the expectation of privacy shape what people are willing to say, think, or explore? What might society lose if privacy continues to erode?
5. Parents regularly post photos, videos, and stories about their children on social media, often before the child can even speak. How will growing up with a public digital history they never agreed to shape these children’s sense of identity and privacy as adults?
6. Wealthy people can afford gated communities, private security, data removal services, and legal teams to protect their privacy, while lower-income people often have the least control over their own personal data. How does economic inequality determine who actually gets to have privacy?
7. Whistleblowers expose information that powerful organizations want to keep secret, but in doing so they often sacrifice their own privacy, safety, and career. Why do some people take that risk, and what does it say about a society when the people who reveal the truth are the ones who suffer the most?
8. Politicians, celebrities, and business leaders often argue that parts of their personal lives should remain private, but the public demands transparency from people in power. Where is the line between holding powerful people accountable and invading their personal lives?
9. The internet was originally built on anonymity, people could explore ideas and express opinions without consequences. As platforms increasingly require real names and identity verification, what is lost when people can no longer be anonymous online, and what is gained?
10. In some countries, people use VPNs and encrypted messaging apps just to have a private conversation. How does the level of political freedom in a country shape what people consider basic privacy, and what happens when the tools of privacy themselves become illegal?

PDF: Download a PDF of all the questions