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That week my phone listened to me talk about dog food and then showed me ads for it
I mentioned to my buddy at a coffee shop in Austin that my dog was getting picky about kibble. Next day every feed was dog food ads. Anyone else have that creepy moment where you realize the mic is always on?
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claire_grant341mo ago
Back in 2022 I was talking to my sister about getting a new vacuum for my place and boom next morning all my Insta ads were Dyson and Shark. But here's the thing that actually helped me - I went into my phone settings and turned off microphone access for apps I knew I didn't need it for, like Instagram and Facebook and Amazon. I also cleared my browsing history and cookies and then reset my advertising ID on both Android and iPhone. It took like five minutes and within a week the ads went back to random stuff like travel and gardening instead of feeling like someone was eavesdropping on my life. Not saying it stops everything but it definitely made me feel a lot less creeped out lol.
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charles_young921mo ago
You mentioned "my phone listened to me talk about dog food" and that's the part that sticks with me. I've had the same thing happen, but here's the twist nobody talks about - sometimes the ads show up before you even say anything out loud, because your phone's been tracking your location near pet stores or following your Amazon browsing from a week ago. It's way too easy to blame the microphone when really these companies are just that good at piecing together your data from other sources, which is honestly scarier because there's no creepy microphone story to point at.
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gavin4691mo ago
Wait, so I can't even blame my phone for being a nosy little snoop anymore? Now I have to accept that I'm just that predictable based on my Amazon history from two weeks ago when I googled "best dog beds for old grumpy dogs" at 2am after my third cup of coffee? That's honestly way more embarrassing than the microphone theory because it means I'm basically walking around with a giant sign on my back that says "I will impulse buy anything for my dog after midnight.
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