Spent 3 years letting Facebook track everything - realized it when my kid got a diaper ad

I was at the grocery store last week, and my 4 year old pointed at Huggies and said 'mommy's phone knows we need those', and it hit me how much I just gave them without thinking. Has anyone else had a creepy moment like that where a targeted ad revealed way too much about your life?

3 comments

3 Comments

phoenix_bailey12d ago

What's the weirdest thing an algorithm has assumed about you based on something your kid did? My niece sneezed near my phone once and got two weeks of cold medicine ads. It's hard to keep pretending this stuff is random when it gets that specific.

the_susan12d ago

Ngl that niece sneeze story is wild, your phone must have some serious audio listening powers. Two weeks of cold ads from one sneeze is way too specific for comfort. Makes you wonder what else it picks up when you're not paying attention.

paulw5312d ago

Oh come on, you guys are way too paranoid. Targeted ads are just math and patterns, not some conspiracy where your phone listens to everything. Your niece sneezed and got cold ads? That's pure coincidence. The algorithm saw you searching for tissues or something related, or maybe it's just flu season and everyone gets those ads. Look, I get it feels weird when it lines up, but we give these companies way too much credit. They're not spying through your mic to sell diapers. They're just really good at guessing based on the boring data you fed them for years. You clicked on one baby article months ago and forgot about it, that's all. Honestly the real creepy stuff is how willingly we hand over our location and search history. But that's on us, not some sneaky microphone magic. If you don't want diaper ads, clear your cookies or use a different browser. Problem solved.