How does my phone know?! AIBU to be freaked out by this.

[OuiOuiBonjour]

Yesterday I was driving with my Mum, I live in a small town with barely the basic shops in it as almost everything has closed.

I got stuck in traffic lights for a while.

A woman came out of a beauty salon, evidently to lock up. She was around 12 metres away wearing a very unusual item of clothing. If I'm honest it was a bit bizarre. I have never seen any one wearing anything like it. It was a cross between a puffer gilet and a dress (to her knees), rose gold metallic material and it had some sort of writing emblazoning the edges in a bold bias type tape.

My exact words were,

"I wouldn't wear that but I think Katie would like it. It's very unusual. Do you think it's Victoria's Secret Pink? It looks like the kind of thing I've seen there in America."

My Mum said, "It could be. The writing might say Love Pink but I can't make it out."

My phone (iphone XS) was in the back of my car in a bag. My Mum didn't have hers and it's a dumb phone anyway.

That was the only conversation. The lights changed and we moved after a minute or so.

Just now, here on MN, I've had an advert for the exact item. From an Italian Designer Website I have never heard of and is definitely not a mainstream company (and definitely not VS Pink). It's an item of clothing that will never be mainstream. I've never seen anyone wearing it on Instagram or the like so it's not like it's suddenly being worn by influencers and that's why it's on my phone as it's popular.

I saw it with my eyes. My phone was inside a bag. I never said "Rose Gold Metallic Puffer Gilet Dress with bold writing on" - I had no need to describe it. If I'd had received ads for VS pink I would have understood. I didn't google afterwards to find out where it was from, I totally forgot about it until now.

But it's like my phone saw what I saw. But it can't have...so how did it know?!

Recently I also had the thought "I would like to try an Improvisation class". Literally just a thought. None of my other hobbies are remotely related to that. I didn't google it. I didn't speak about it out loud. It was just a thought in my head. The next day I was getting targetted ads for part-time Improv courses and classes in a city 2 hours away.

AIBU to be freaked out and wanting to ditch my phone?

@girlmom21

It's picked up your thoughts and sightings from the microchip in your Covid vaccine.

Yes, was about to ask if you’ve had your covid vaccine yet.

[quote waterrat]www.newsweek.com/your-social-media-apps-are-not-listening-you-tech-worker-explains-data-privacy-viral-twitter-1595136[/quote]
Thank you. This is excellent and completely explains it. I was also 3/4 of a mile from home on a route I frequently travel so my phone and this woman's phone could cross paths frequently for all I know. She may even live on my block.

All the other things are well documented and widely known.
I was actually thinking about getting an item I had in a previous vehicle for a current vehicle. (Item came as part of a 3rd party install package before we took delivery). Sold that vehicle more than a year ago.
Hadn't mentioned it to anyone or got around to any kind of searching etc. Lo and behold, 2 days later I've got an add for said item on my screen. It's a very niche item but for quite a common vehicle (1 of our vans).
That was a mind fuck

I'm off out later to buy my foil hat.

@Watchingyou2sleezes

All the other things are well documented and widely known. I was actually thinking about getting an item I had in a previous vehicle for a current vehicle. (Item came as part of a 3rd party install package before we took delivery). Sold that vehicle more than a year ago. Hadn't mentioned it to anyone or got around to any kind of searching etc. Lo and behold, 2 days later I've got an add for said item on my screen. It's a very niche item but for quite a common vehicle (1 of our vans). That was a mind fuck

I'm off out later to buy my foil hat.

Is it an item that might have needed replacing within a year, or since you bought the original one for the other vehicle?

I'm now actively trying to just think of things to see if I get an ad now 😂.

I’m just here to see the dress!

@StarryStarrySocks

I swear this happens to me! A couple of times recently, I've only thought about something (for example, getting a new coat) and bingo! Adverts for coats right there on my phone.

This is confirmation bias in action. You just haven't noticed all the times that you thought of bread, holidays, shoes, fridges or anything else and DIDN'T see an ad for one.

Hehehe I have this all the time! The sad thing is that I live alone, talk to myself or Alexa to turn the lights on and always have 'relevant' adverts popping up. It used to terrify me but now I'm just grateful that something is listening to my rambles and I'm not alone after all!

If you've still got it could you send us the link for the gilet thing? I'm intrigued!

OP, are the brand initials MS by any chance?

I don't believe the claims that they don't listen to you. I've had too many experiences where they clearly did.

But also, when you add that in with all the other data they collect, where you are, who is around you, their profiles and photos they upload (maybe that lady took a photo of herself in the weird dress), your habits over the past years, etc, it's possible to make a very detailed profile of you, what you do, and make predictions about what you might think, too.

I watched Bird Box on Netflix and then my Kindle suggested I might Like to download the book next day

And some people think being vaccinated will mean they can be tracked... coincidences if you never named the item.

@doublemonkey

OP, are the brand initials MS by any chance?

No it's not that brand.

To others who have asked to see it, I know this is going to sound weird but I don't want to send a link to it as I'm quite pissed off and don't want to give them business! I know that's irrational.

From that article…..

He explained that even though this aggregation can sometimes lead to an individual receiving an ad he or she doesn't want, the ad still pertains to someone in that individual's circle. This leads to a conversation about a product, which can still drive conversion
"It never needed to listen to me for this," Reeve said. "It's just comparing aggregated metadata."

Blimey and it really works, and OP you’ve just helped spread it around a bit more now because, though I’ve no interest in a rose gold, knee length gilet, I googled it anyway to see if I could find the one you’re talking about. And I immediately thought to myself, hmmmmm I don’t like it, but I bet DD2 would love it! Sneaky advertising bastards, really know their stuff 😂

X Post - it’s too late OP 😂

Its the ghost of Steve Jobs.

My DH ditched his last iPhone after it kept doing all manner of weird and wonderful things like talking out loud in the middle of the night and disconnecting himself from the charger.

We used to joke it was haunted by the ghost of Steve Jobs.

I reckon it's like this but rose gold.

Have you ever used Silk Fred?

www.silkfred.com/womens/clothing/jackets-and-coats/bond-street-shoe-company/limited-edition-lilac-tie-dye-life-is-beautiful-gilet-puffer

@OuiOuiBonjour, ok thanks!

I actually saw some weird gilet coat type thingies from that brand the other day and can't figure out it they're hideous or really nice and if I want one!

I’m going to guess it’s this one?

[quote waterrat]www.newsweek.com/your-social-media-apps-are-not-listening-you-tech-worker-explains-data-privacy-viral-twitter-1595136[/quote]
Came here to share this. Phones aren't listening, it's a lot scarier than that

🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Yes. I use Silk Fred ALOT. I don't often buy clothes online but if I do, that's where I tend to buy from. I wonder if that woman and I have bought the same outfits from Silk Fred in the past? I can't see the exact same gilet on there though.
Maybe an old buy. But then why would it show up a different website? And it's out of stock on the Italian website anyway.

The plot thickens. It's all very Black Mirror. Who is influencing who? Maybe next time I drive past she'll be wearing something I recently bought because it came up in her adds. I was wearing a North Face jacket and Calvin Klein bottoms yesterday...is she getting ads for those now?

(All tongue in cheek)

Some beauty and tanning salons do sell clothing, oddly enough, and strange slider type shoes with fluff on them near me anyway.

@angieloumc

Some beauty and tanning salons do sell clothing, oddly enough, and strange slider type shoes with fluff on them near me anyway.

This one definitely doesn't. But I know what you mean, others sell the weird fluffy sliders etc. And other random stuff like Vitamin Shots or slimming tablets. My friend started going into her most local one to get her nails done and within a year she'd turned orange from too much Vitamin C, been in hospital with heart arrhythmia from the slimming pills, couldn't move her face thanks to the visiting botox lady and she owned 5 pairs of fluffy sliders in a variety of "interesting" colours with bling bows and skulls and shit on.

I'm very much not into that sort of thing.

Oh and coincidentally this friend is "Katie" who I thought would like the gilet 😂.

You're experiencing sychronicity (as defined by Carl Jung). It's can't be just from phones hearing us. Happens me all the time, one example would be having a conversation about something and then 10 mins later someone on tv having the exact same specific conversation. I don't know the cause but suspect it'll turn out to be something later easily explained by quantum mechanics, e.g. entanglement, and perhaps because the universe is (as is suspected) holographic in nature. I'll give you an example..

I was in the kitchen having a conversation with my sis years ago. My videotape of the film Eraserhead was sitting on the counter. My sister picked it up,looking at the cover.

"What's this film about anyway?"

"Oh it's really weird, David Lynch's first film... there's this alien baby, it's sick and it keeps crying, it's really freaky" (words to that effect)

So then I walked into the living room, started flicking round the channels. I shouted to sis "There's some Kiefer Sutherland film on 2".

So I'm watching it and a few mins later am screaming "Get in here, quick!" to my sis. Why?

Kiefer Sutherland's character is in the kitchen with his wife. She picks up THE VIDEO OF ERASERHEAD off the kitchen counter. (It is identical... same cover, price tag stuck in the same corner) .

She says: "What is this film about anyway?"

Kiefer Sutherland's character replies with the same reply I gave.

Then the film continues as normal. Myself and my sister are stunned. We've both experienced lots of synchronicities beforehand, but ones you could easily write off. This one feels ridiculous. Like we have just acted a scene in this reality and then the characters inside our tv scene immediately act out the same scene. What the hell?

I always think, ok, it must be holographic then, all the information contained in every part of the whole. And I know time isn't actually linear, that space-time is somehow an illusion, and that what we see in the universe is dependent on the observer. Still.... seems weird AF. Same when you get ads for what you're just thinking about.

No wonder people get paranoid and think they're being bugged etc (and of course,phones could well be doing that too),but I do think it's helpful to remember we don't know everything yet and there will be a perfectly rational scientific explanation for this, even if it's weirder and more wonderful that we currently know about.

Plus of course the marketing stuff like @MolyHolyGuacamole said!

Lol OP at your friend and her local beauty shop, sounds so weird , funny what people are into