I’m I turning into a tin hatter or…

[Keeva2017]

Do you get adverts linked to conversations you’ve had?

So I have asked people IRL but can’t get a straight answer, same deal with google really.

We all know that if we search for something then we get adverts for said thing on social media. But I swear a few times this week I have had scarily specific adverts for things I know I haven’t search for. But have spoken about IRL or on watsapp.

Examples;
Went old fashioned shopping for kids trainers, didnt pre research or price check after. Suddenly getting adverts for the exact trainers.

Tonight had a convo about (forgive me I’m the mum beautiful but minging under 5’s) not sticking your finger up your bum. Que advert for a finger puppet where it says finger access is in the bum (this sounds weird but it looks legit, please don’t judge me or my children).

Daughter talking about rapunzal and me and partner wondering where the new obsession came from. Que advert for Rapunzal Lego.

At work Friday me asking about Mermaids Purse charity - Amazon toy advert for a mermaids purse.

ALL of these - Amazon?

AIBU and a conspiracy nut or is my phone and possible Amazon listening to me?

Get your tin hats at the ready!
It may not be 'big brother' but something or someone is DEFINITELY listening into us!!
And here was me thinking it was just me it was happening to so, on one hand, I'm happy I'm not alone.... but, on the other hand, is it safe to talk??

Your phone is listening to you. This isn't tin hat, it's a known fact.
I've been a bit unnerved recently when a couple of ads have popped up for things I've only thought about inside my head...

Happens to me too. Not ads about fingers and bums but related to conversations I've had.

I could be wrong but I think it has something to do with the mic in the phone. I haven't bothered turning it off though because I can't possibly fathom anyone being interested in the conversations I'm involved in!

My friend misplaced her wallet the other day and called her dh to check it was at home. While she was waiting for him to call back she had a pop up advert asking her if it was time for a new wallet...

@Frogsonglue you’ve taken it up a notch but who the hell knows right?

(I know I nearly didn’t mention the finger in bums but it seemed relevant).

I got that puppet advertised to me today! I'm sure it has to be the same one
But something is definitely listening. My suggested Google searches all bring up really specific things I've been talking about just before googling.

Frogsonglue is correct, it's happened to me also

Do you have an Alexa? Her ears will be flapping!

Your apps and phone are listening to you.
Google, Amazon, Facebook etc make most of there money from data collection, selling of your data and analytics rather than advertising.

I got the finger puppet advert too.

Facebook messenger definitely listens. I’ve had adverts based on verbal conversations several times. It’s very unsettling.

I'm currently growing out a fringe (bangs). I haven't googled or looked at anything to do with this, nor have I mentioned it online until now.

Over the last few days, I've been getting stories in my feed related to transition hairstyles/what to do with bangs. I can only assume I've been imaged with shaggy hair hanging in my eyes.

I also had a conversation with DH about Nietzsche. No google, internet, nothing, but his name was mentioned as we sat on the sofa together having a conversation. Then I got adds for book depository with Nietzsche books in the reference. This blew me away because it was a fairly obscure and specific reference. And there is 100% no way I googled it or looked it up online. It's possible DH may have looked at something on youtube referencing Nietzsche, but he says he didn't look it up specifically.

I feel sick when I think about it, especially now we have to carry a phone to go anywhere where I live as the Covid checkin app is mandatory to enter supermarkets & shopping centres.

And I don't have Alexa or any kind of smart home. The audio must have come from our phones or TV.

This happens to me all the time, phone is defo spying on me. Ive also noriced that if I google stuff at home, ads will appear on my work pc for the same thing, despite the pc not being linked to any of my personal accounts and my phone isnt on workplace wifi, just my data.

I don't believe it's happening, no. It would be illegal in most countries, has been denied by the big tech companies, and analyzing that amount of data would be a really inefficient way of tracking peoples interests (compared to simply tracking your browsing history).

There have been occasions where something seemed so coincidental that I thought there was something to it, but its also happened when I've thought (but not spoken) about something. I suspect there's a lot of confirmation bias at play.

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Your phone does listen to you. Do you use the voice assistant (eg Siri on iPhone)? It listens, analyses your speech and picks up on relevant words to understand what you want.

Yes your phone listens to you.

Two people in my office at work were discussing accounting software. I don't use it, never searched for it, and wasn't even a part of the discussion, yet low and behold adverts for that exact software started appearing.

Of course your phone is listening. The voice assistant needs to know if you're asking it a question.

You can turn it off, but you need to turn the mic off too. And mine often seems to re-set to on when I get an update.

It's all computer algorythms. I spose it's also efficient advertising. At least you are on to it!

If you have location services switched on then your phone knows where you’ve been.

In your privacy settings you can see which apps have permission to access your microphone which might explain which ones are potentially “listening”

www.spiralytics.com/blog/mobile-ads-can-phone-hear-conversations-infographic/

This has never happened to me. If I've been looking at something on Amazon I'll often get an ad for it appear in my Facebook timeline but nothing has ever appeared due to a conversation. We have three Alexas in the house too but I've never had an ad pop up due to them listening to me.

I’ve had this where DH and I were talking about condoms which is rare for us to talk about and I definitely hadn’t messaged about them and then on Facebook an advert comes up.

Yes I thought everyone knew phones listen? There are even jokes about it on tik tok/social media - women with their birthdays coming up whispering "Chanel bag, Chanel bag" or whatever into their husband's phones. Also if you watch that social media documentary on Netflix, I forget the name, it explains how algorithms are so in tune now with what people want/think/do that they actually can predict behaviour, so yeah they pretty much can read your mind in a sense.

I remember a few years ago having a conversation at work about a very specific piece of equipment. I looked it up on my work computer.

When I got home that evening I switched on my personal laptop and the first advert that came up was for that piece of equipment. I was really freaked.

Yes, definitely happening to me. I get songs or videos popping up on YouTube related to conversations I've had. I've tried switching all listening off on my phone but it's still happening