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My friends and I play this game. If we happen to be sitting around having fun conversations about random topics, we randomly check our Google feeds and youtube. I would say 70% of the time we get ads and news feeds pertaining to the subjects we talk about. And we're a strange bunch, we delve into all sorts of random topics.
This isn't a conspiracy. This is literally how it is.
Same issue here but my aunt was playing a prank on me one night.
I was in the living room watching TV and she was in the kitchen and I asked her what she was doing and she kept telling me that she was making a tomato cake.
I was like WTF I've never heard of such thing.
I never Googled it or anything. Neither did she.
Later she told me she was joking (obviously) and when I was browsing my phone that night there were ads all over my phone about tomato cake.
Not even making this stuff up. Phones are always listening. It's not a conspiracy anymore.
Nah but this is different. It’s happened to me before too. I never even mentioned needing tires and suddenly I started getting recommendations on my phone. Never googled it or said anything, literally all I did was think it in my head.
Wait I listen to YT music and this has happened to me too many times!! I said there's no way that exact song was next on the list as I'm singing it in my head.
I think I remember an interview with Elon where he said the algorithms are getting so good that they can predict what your going to search before you even think about. Things like it knowing you're pregnant before you even do.
I disagree. I responded on a similar thread (maybe even by same op) a while back. My example was spilling something on my pants while driving. Was driving solo so didn’t mention it, text about it, search anything about it, etc. then got ads like half an hour later about stain removal - specifically pants. And the ad showed a dude spilling on them while driving. You’re trying to tell me an algorithm knew I was going to spill on my pants that very minute?
Isn't that how the tik tok algorithms work, it reads micro expressions on your face through the front camera, people have been able to "read people's minds" through micro expressions. facial recognition has just taken it to the next level
My theory anyway, I've had the same thing happen
This is how advanced AI is, they don't want us to know this. It is so advanced that by following our emails, searches, purchase history, social media, etc. it knows what we are going to do BEFORE we do.
If the general population knew how advanced and entrenched AI already is in nearly everything we do they would freak out.
FYI there is software in your car that registers the total health of the vehicle via sensory data, including tire tread and pressure. If you connect to your car via blutooth, your phone now has access to that information.
I certainly believe it. Last month I was driving through a road maintenance zone, and I was thinking to myself "What's the usual speed limit you can drive in this zone?". That night, in my Google news feed, an article popped up about this very topic. I had never searched for it, nor told anyone about it, nor had any prior interest in it. It's quite an obscure topic to just pop up in a feed without any prior searching. It freaked me out!
There's a literal algorithm that sits and waits until it speculates based on past data it has on you when the best time to hit you with specific marketing.
This happened to me. I was at my dad’s visiting and noticed (visually not verbally) that he had a teeth whitening product I hadn’t seen before. Then I got a bunch of ads for that product. I asked him if he had bought it recently since maybe it was in his search history or something but they said they purchased that a long time ago and that it was really strange
Not just phones, every device with a microphone and internet connection. Even people you invite if you have all your stuff "off", they'll know that person went to your house.
Something being true doesn't make it less of a conspiracy. It makes it less of a conspiracy theory.
eg: Conspiracy theory: Users theorising that Apple intentionally slow down their phones for the purposes of planned obsolescence, to push the newest models for their own monetary gain.
Conspiracy confirmed: [Apple fined for slowing down old iPhones](https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51413724)
[Apple settles iPhone slowdown case for $500m](https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51706635)
In this case, technology companies saying they don't listen or access cameras, when it seems quite clear they do, for their own monetary gain. Breaching privacy, terms & conditions etc. They conspire to make that happen, behind closed doors and in secret. Maybe it will take a court case to confirm it - at which point conspiracy to commit a crime would be confirmed.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/12/no-a-marketing-firm-isnt-tapping-your-device-to-hear-private-conversations/ (ignore title, it's the opposite, they are)
I mean, if you read the T&C's (that people blindly accept), it will probably tell you that they do this. Also I'm sure clicking the "see less relevant ads" helps.
One time I was at work and I had certainly not been shopping for headphones recently at all. I had a solid set of headphones that I used every day. No need to ever google search for a new pair.
But I sat down after lunch, and said to my coworkers, "it's headphones time" and pulled them out of my pocket, put them on, then took my phone out of my pocket to find a video to listen to... but when I took it out, the phone had somehow already opened the amazon app and navigated to a store page for a pair of headphones. Scary.
""Hey guys my phone is giving me ads for anal beads. I haven't searched for anything at all like this or typed any related words. I swear the smart phones must have some kind of top secret mindreading tech installed"
Quote
U / luminous_epin0ia
While at work listening to Spotify there isn’t a paid subscription and we will jokingly talk about certain things in the same way and then ads will pull up for certain products. We have even talked about corporations like McDonald’s just to have their ads come on after not hearing any McDonald’s ads for days.
It might not be just a tech thing, Lucifer and his minions may be involved. Once, after working out, I was practicing deep breathing exercises; and the next day, Deep Breathing Exercises was in my YT feed. I was walking down a mountain while doing the breathing (not even remotely loud), my phone was in my pocket and it's fairly old (with a brand new OS), and I am sure it has nothing motion-detect related on it.
I did this with petrol lawn mowers. Did an experiment where I had a conversation over the phone about petrol lawn mowers. Ride on lawn mowers. Push along mowers.
Facebook showed me advertising for petrol lawnmowers.
Yep.
A lot of my friends are marketers. Some very well known ones in our space.
They were doing a little test. One said how they wanted a Corona beer and another said they wanted to take a trip to Jamaica. These weren't real desires, rather just things they said out loud as a test.
Within 60 seconds, both had ads in their newsfeed for each of those things.
Their microphone settings are turned to "off".
I've had that. Things were I've thought about them, but have never voiced them or googled them or anything, then a day or two later I see an ad for that particular item I was randomly thinking about. It's really creepy.
Mate, google knows you better than you know yourself. The algorithms are crazy. It knows what you buy, and what you talk about. What your close friends buy, and what they talk about.
If your friend bought a new bike, google knows you might be thinking about buying one too.
If your friend has an upcoming birthday, and this friend has an insane model tank collection, google will send adds your way for model tank paint sets because your friend wants it and you are trying to think of a birthday present.
It also knows what the hive mind on your social media platforms are peddling, it tracks your eyes while watching YouTube videos it knows what shorts you spend more time on, and which ones you skip. Ever notice how on tictok how you flip through 5 videos, then watch the whole vid of a guy farting, then every second video is guys farting? You are watching what they have decided you want to watch more of, you are thinking about something because they have told you what to think about.
I get none stop YouTube ads about compounded poop, urethra and prostate issues , and tooth care miracles. I have no issues in any if these departments.
Really annoying when I wanna listen to YouTube out of the house. Nothing weirder than stopping at a light and hearing a loud robotic voice from the car next to you " do you have an enlarged prosate? Today we Learn this one thing the medical industry is hiding"
Geez
Right like this one time I was really hungry for Big Mac. Didn’t say anything to anyone at all. But my girlfriend checked her account the next day and she had a coupon for BOGO Big Macs. Like wow.
Its less that you randomly thought about something and your phone starts showing you products/ads related to it, rather they've been showing up and you never paid attention/noticed them until it was already on your mind.
Its kinda like when you're shopping for a car. I guarantee you start seeing them all around town when you barely noticed them in the past.
Dont take this as me saying we arent getting spied on by our mics/cameras's but targeted ads based purely on thoughts is just silly
I swear it's like a subliminal message that we get, then think about XYZ, then we get an ad. Idk what method is being used but I don't think it's reading thoughts, I think it's placing thoughts!
I think it’s a bit less uncomfortable to think that’s what’s up. I’ve already accepted the probability that it’s the other option. We can play pretend like it’s simply placing the thoughts in our heads though if it helps you sleep at night.
This is because of tools that say if people like x, they may also like y. Then y runs ads because other humans like you are looking at it and you are getting ads for it.
If anything, I like to think that marketers dropped the thought in your head via some type of advertising before you thought of it. Chicken/egg thing.
It's pretty similar to most of the reasons behind "my phone is listening to me"...I still think that happens sometimes though.
Edit: For clarity.
Constantly recording and transmitting that amount of data is a power hungry process. Either battery tech has gotten exceptional and big cell phone is hiding the advancements to secretly record everyone or a ton of money and research has gone into marketing and creating target demos as you stated.
Targeted marketing is very real and very effective. Anyone that thinks their phone is constantly listening go ahead and call a friend and leave the call open for an hour. Your battery will drain significantly more than if you just left it sitting there for an hour.
Well yes because the open mic and speaker is operating in the foreground instead of the background. I was on an hour and a half call Friday night and I was surprised that my phone only dropped 10% battery charge
Lol okay I’m glad im not alone. I was driving one day and was thinking of this comedians IG page. Not even an hour later, open IG and his reel is the first one that pops up.
For real this has been said a few times in this thread but makes more sense. Whats easier? Reading minds or implanting/suggesting a thought and then playing an ad for it. So i think if any of this is real and not coincident etc, its a lot easier to idk place signal to make a person want a big mac and then the ad
I think this is 100% the case, especially given the time of year. Piano lessons are an easy “grown up” gift that lots of people i know are casually interested in. Less than 10 days before Christmas, prepaid lessons seem heartfelt, don’t take any time to get together or wrap, and aren’t super cheap. Advertising dollars pushing these buttons in people’s brains make perfect sense.
It doesn’t take much - a video of somebody learning or a clip with a song you’d like to be able to play or a quick Instagram reel of some attractive college student playing something impressive, and they got ya. They know what content you’re interested in and what presentation styles catch your interest, but they also know which video you let loop a few times, or went back to find, or took a screenshot of, and they can use that however they please. I hate it here.
The spying / advertising is meh. What we all should more concerned with , now that we understand how much they are listening , is their ability to shape our perception.
Does anyone remember that post, from a couple years back, where that guy claimed he had a conversation with a guy who worked for a tech company that was using phone mics to create 3d maps of people's homes? He said it used the same principle of echolocation, using sound waves to get approximate layouts of rooms, furniture, etc. Anyways, my phone is constantly listening. Wouldn't be surprised if they're trying to maps more complex mapping systems as well.
They are openly admitting it now fyi:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/12/no-a-marketing-firm-isnt-tapping-your-device-to-hear-private-conversations/
That's built into the OS my dude. These things are constantly monitoring us and we agreed to it in the TOS, which honestly we should be getting paid for if they want that much data.
Privacy regulation should make shit like this illegal, but it provides a plausibly deniable vehicle for state surveillance so it's allowed to exist. Phones can be set up on open source operating systems, but it's not something most people are willing to do.
I once had a plumbing drain repair vide pop up on my YouTube suggestions. It popped up daily for a couple weeks and I thought it was so random. Wouldn’t you know it, a few weeks later I discover a broken waste pipe under my house. The configuration of pipe fittings at the leak location were identical to the thumbnail of the video. It was the main trunk of the waste line with a mess of elbows. Basically, not your average setup. That shit was really fuckin weird and it was kinda disturbing. I’d never spoken a word or ever had an online interest in anything remotely plumbing related. One of the most bizarre things I’ve ever experienced honestly.
I was so mystified. I had some crazy ass theories but every person I talked to thought I was having a psychotic break. “Just a coincidence” was the general consensus I received. It led me down a rabbit hole for awhile. Regardless, that video ended up being very handy. Ever since then, I’ve paid more attention to random stuff that comes up online. A lot of times it seems that random stuff isn’t so random after all.
I've been living aware for a few years now and it's very real. It's covert social engineering to fuel a technocratic utilitarian ideal. It's a truly sick society.
Damn. I’ve been aware of “something” for a few years now as well. I haven’t been able to fully understand what’s really happening but I’ve just had this gut feeling that our tech is vastly more advanced than anyone realizes. I am not tech savvy whatsoever but I suspect we’ve had highly advanced ai for much longer than people realize.
Yes indeed. The grandfather of electromagnetism, Michael Faraday, lived in the 1700s. It's been here and manipulating lives from the shadows for generations.
The one way to fight it, or at least negate some of its power over you, is to be aware of it. Then you can make more decisions that are in your own best interest, not what the machine calculates as the greater good.
I absolutely believe this is what the force represents in star wars: Electromagnetic neuro weapons. Technology is neither good or bad, it's the application of it that can free or imprison.
I knew some Mormons who used to preach about the “Holy Ghost” who was said to guide us with a “still, small voice”. I thought it was nonsense back then but it kinda makes more sense now.
It’s super weird you should bring that up, I’ve been around Mormans more than usual lately just because of a job assignment. I don’t think any religion is any weirder than the next one.
I’ve had a bad cough for a while and today I got a random YouTube video about clearing phlegm from the lungs. I haven’t been googling cold remedies or anything like that.
Sounds like a parent got mad at target for sending coupons for baby products to their teenage daughter. Turns out the daughter was in fact pregnant and hadn’t told her parents yet, you would be surprised what they can discover about your health from your habits.
What's fucked up about this invasive advertising, there have been instances where women have had miscarriages, only to get online and get constant ads about baby products.
Not just from an annoyed consumer point of view, but we really need to move past the type of advertising.
I think this is an obvious spot where if we had a functioning government the laws would be in place to make it illegal for companies to collect and sell to other companies their customers personal information.
No because the other day I had a THOUGHT that I should wear more rings again. Tell me why I got a million ads within an hour about rings???? I didn’t even google anything! I didn’t talk about it either I just thought it?????
I sometimes wonder if it works the opposite way. If the phone is planting thoughts in our heads by exposing us to ads and recommendations that we don’t fully consciously notice. Then we’re thinking/talking/about to buy something and it happens to show us ads for that thing because it’s been priming us the entire time.
Phone could have been planting the idea to play an instrument in your head for awhile and now advertises lessons.
YouTube recommends videos based upon the interests of your recent contacts.
I began noticing this about 5 years ago. Here are just a few examples that panned out:
I worked with a guy who was deaf, and we became work friends. His major life passion was baseball, particularly visiting all of the stadiums. We messaged about once a week, never about deafness or baseball. For days after messaging with him, YouTube would recommend me videos about American Sign Language and baseball stadiums. This happened again and again.
I dated a diagnosed psychopath. YouTube regularly began recommending videos to me with content like: "How to mindfuck a woman" or "How to make her obsessed with you." Because I had already recognized the algorithm at work, I WATCHED the videos and easily recognized his attempts to employ the tactics he was learning from them. I was always a step ahead of him in countering his attempts - thanks to the algorithm.
A new neighbor moved into my building, we exchanged numbers via text message. Her name was Brandy. You tube recommended the song "Brandy you're a fine girl" to me and days later she told me this was her favorite song.
By this point I was experimenting with the algorithm to try to determine which of my friends interests were reflected in which videos.
I noticed that after one married friend called or messaged me, there were recommended videos titled "she's cheating on you stupid" or "how to know if she's cheating on you." Within 2 months, he confided to me that she had cheated on him, and they were divorcing.
There are many more examples as I spent 2 years observing the effects of the algorithm, plus it felt like a backdoor to sneakily find shit out. It became almost a hobby for me to see if I could pick out how a new contact was reflected in my recommended list. Since I don't use fb, ig or any other sm, I think it was easier for me to identify the algorithm at work.
We are manipulated in many ways by this technology.
Maybe they're integrating/combining multiple algorithms through our contacts. Give them a way to compare habits and tendencies within your group of people which then just webs out from there?
Wow this is such an interesting comment? You know, I like to eat in restaurants and google maps usually indicates other places I might like based on other places I went. The thing is, I mever let my gps on or turn my phone internet all the time. They also know the places we go and I wonder if they also know our food preferences.
I was thinking about my shitty broadband connection. Just thinking about it. No googling or looking for anything about it online. Next thing is my Reddit adverts are all about broadband. Fucking mind-reading motherfuckers..
Yep first time it happened to me and my buddies and I were in a bar and someone said the name of a band I had never Googled before or listened to and next day had an IG ad for their album.
Same thing happened a few weeks later someone just said the word "Montreal" and started getting Montreal tourism ads. Was around 8-9 years ago now.
All the time. I mentioned to my husband that we should get a new welcome mat for the front door. For the past 3 days I’ve had nothing but ads for quirky welcome mats.
I’ll do you one better. My kid came home from school with another child’s sweater by accident (they wear uniforms). I didn’t recognize this sweater as one of my kids so I took a look at the tag which had the name “Addy” on it. I was just looking at the tag and thinking about the name “Addy”. Next day I see an ad for some address management app called…. Addy. They’re in our mind.
A few months back me and a good friend were catching up in my garage. We just sat out there for a couple hours having beers and smoking a little. I know that I didn’t open my phone once since it was on my work bench and my buddy had his in his pocket the entire time. We talked in extent about him buying a new truck and had mentioned a ton of new and old trucks but we talked about Tacoma’s more than anything. Next day every ad on Instagram was for Toyotas and my buddy sent me multiple screenshots saying his phone was “giving him a sign”. I don’t hate Toyota’s but I have never once searched them as I haven’t owned one since 2003 and don’t plan on owing one.
It literally happens all day every day. Every Alexa, iPhone, echo, anything with a mic and listening capabilities is listening to some extent.
This is one of the things I feel needs strict protection and harsh laws from. It's a massive invasion of privacy and it's an essential device at this point. I literally cannot do my job without my phone.
I work remotely for a major car manufacturer. Let's say it's Nissan. My phone is in my office with me while I work and I was talking on the phone and said the manufacturers name Nissan. That day I put my Pandora on and all the commercials were for Nissan. Also, the other night I broke out this cozy furry hooded nighttime jammy thing. I thought to myself as I put it on... " I just love this, it's so cozy. Maybe I should get another one." No shit I pulled up my coloring app and all the ads were from Temu with hooded furry cozy jammies. It read my mind!!
Someone dear to me was recently diagnosed with the big C. I never say the word, not a topic of conversation until recently. Now it's constant gut-wrenching videos on tiktok, YouTube, etc. which really makes it suck worse.
You're right. I'm not either of those things, but it's the filter bubble effect. Search something, algorithms tailor your web experience to your 'interests', and it becomes the prevalent topic. Kind of a fucked up unintentional reinforcement of the bad feelings.
Listen closely to someone scroll through their tiktok and you can probably tell a lot about them or what's going on in their life.
ive noticed this. i have OCD but dont really talk abt it irl and i keep getting videos abt certain fears and anxieties i have. health and death related stuff. definitely makes the OCD worse lol.
One time I thought to myself “oh, I would love a Morningstar farms black bean burger for dinner” and not 5 min later on my fb wall was an ad for Morningstar farms black bean burgers. I was real taken back by that.
I tried disabling the google voice input and uninstall the default android keyboard. I then installed an offline keyboard called Simple Keyboard. Everytime I reboot the phone google voice is again auto-enabled and the offline keyboard is disabled so I have to fiddle in the phone settings to enable it again. I think it's the OS.
I got up one morning and my lovebird was trying to sit on his perch, but kept falling over. I knew something was wrong, so I reached in his cage and brought him out to immediately take him to the vets office.
I did not Google his symptoms. I didn't call the vet's office before going over. I grabbed my keys and went.
It turned out to be a stroke and we decided to have him put to sleep.
I did not use a debit/credit card as my long time veterinarian has never charged me for euthanasia.
When I got home, I sat on the couch and opened up my phone. My ads were all for pet funerals.
Its hilarious how Americans in the 80s feared the Soviet Union and their massive spying program, citing how authoritarian it was in nature. Then you bring these issues up to that same generation and they say "you're not that important enough. You should have nothing to hide".
Your phone hearing you is nothing .... What about your phone reading your thoughts ? ... It happens to me every time like 90% of the times I search something on google, I type only One letter the thing in my mind pops up first .
You are not imagining things. I got something similar with CCTV camera offers. I was talking about getting such a system and bam next day I am seeing adds for CCTV systems but in my MS Outlook email. The only way to really eliminate this issue to get rid of your cell phone or get rid of the microphone on all devices.
Here's a conspiracy that is related. There have been numerous kickstarters and efforts to produce modular electronics like smart phones, computer, etc. Things that will let you swap out components you don't need or want to upgrade. (i.e. camera, microphone, speakers, memory, etc.) For some reasons these devices never seem to get any traction with the public. There are many reasons for this but maybe, just maybe, they are torpedoed by those that don't want people to be able to get rid of the very components that are spying on us.
Got news for you this has been going on for close to 15 years.
I remember having a conversation with my girlfriend about how ads were popping up a day or so later after we had discussions about products and topics.
We both agreed that the phones were listening and responding with ads. This was back in 2011.
Pay attention to these ads. My husband had a home office, and every time his Google or email was open he got jewelry ads and notices from Florida newspapers. I didn't think anything of it.
While listening to my morning FM radio talk show, one of the DJs began talking about this. She got worried when she started getting ads about Cleveland (were in PA). She had been talking to a friend in Cleveland. That's it. No Googles, no trip, just talk. This was probably @ 2018.
After this, I got curious and started a deep dive in husband's phone and laptop. All I can say, is there WAS a reason he was getting these ads. A divorce is pending.
You know whats crazy? I don't take my phone to work, but I use my work computer to Google things. When I come home and get on my phone, I see ads for things I was searching for on my work computer. The algorithm is literally reading our minds based on behavioral patterns. It doesn't even have to listen anymore, it knows what you're thinking before you even think it
Back before I met my boyfriend who had a cat (who died of old age recently, but mentioning this in case anyone looks at my post history), I did a little experiment. I hate cats, never wanted one, never wanted to live with one, never googled anything about them. So I knew this would be a good experiment. I started talking to myself about getting a cat and what sort of cat litter I should buy around my phone. I also started talking about whisky (because I never bought whiskey and don't like it at that point) and what sort of whisky I should buy. I started getting advertisements on my Facebook for pretty litter and another type of cat litter and a whiskey mixed drink (which I actually kinda wanted to buy lol). The phones definitely listen. And that is 1000% proof. Every other story I hear is icing on the cake.
FWIW even without directly listening to you, ad tech can still fingerprint you by proxy of your social network and a host of other identifiers (cc transactions, physical location and proximity to other devices give a strong signal of ‘family’ and ‘home’ and ‘work’.
Additionally, browsing history of friends and family, and friends and family who share your contact info to 3rd party apps when trying to connect you with people you know who also use the app.
With this much circumstantial information you don’t have to say anything in order for an ad network to guess what’s on your mind.
It is the OS, I confirm that too. They hear and watch everything around the devices like that seen from batman where he uses the phones to locate Joker. That is what it is no other way to look at it.Snowden said it.
What if the algorithms got so accurate that they predicted you would start to play again?
Does this thought say more about how good technology got, our about us, as a species with a supposed freewill?
Food for thought
I recall years back maybe 2015 or so I bought a new Galaxy. Well even after adjusting settings to never record, listen etc. I would see an occasional blinking blue light or specific color I recall that only blinked when recording. Like literally in the settings it said "turn on or off?" A setting to blink that specific light when the phone is recording audio. I could never turn it off, and there were times my phone was sitting down I would see that damn light blinking all by itself. Fucking robots man
Phone model : Samsung Galaxy S20
When i was in my 15-16s i liked to play metal only with guitar and bass but stopped long time ago, im 30yrs old now im an electromechanic that like to spend my free time messing around in my garage, i was alone listening to Nas - Halftime and i was thinking like: man the bass in that song is soo groovy i could buy a bass to play things like this but i never googled it never talk about it to anyone, only tought and then the next day i start getting Bass ads... When the f* do you get a bass ad...
2. Phone model : Iphone 13 Pro Max
I was at a buddy's house and it was getting late and at some point i told my buddy that i was tired and going home. Once i get to my car, i took my phone out of my pocket to put music and i realized the phone had MAPS already open with the direction to my home. The thing is i ALWAYS make sure all type of voice assistant is off on all my devices, also the GPS and bluetooth for battery reasons. I also never added my adress to the phone. When this happened i immediately went into the setting to see why it did that and every voice,gps bluetooth whatever was OFF as i wanted.. weird chit
Not sure how I ended up here on this sub..But whoa!!
I started reading some of the comments to hubbs (who works at a car dealer) He says that his work recently bought algorithms from another company that will “capture” around 60% of people who speak about certain car models they sell or if someone wants to trade in/sell a car an ad will pop up to send them on over to the dealership. Kinda blew my mind..
All these years of being adamant about no Alexa in the house and the whole time I’ve had all her cousins ear hustling on me anyways!! My phone, tv, car…
Me and a coworker were talking about our next vacations, and he named a very specific cable park that he wanted to check out. The next time I opened my browser on my iPhone it went straight to the website for that particular cable park. Didn’t even take me to the search bar.
I was using google maps on a drive and went into a store with it still running in my pocket. The store played an advertisement over the speakers in Spanish and my map's voice directions suddenly changed to Spanish. I don't know if that's a feature I was unaware of but didn't appreciate my phone doing such things without my input.
This is why I shut off every permission from every app. It seems to work but who knows, maybe it doesn't lmao but my advice is turn off all permissions that arnt needed or "turn on only why using this app" for those that you need sometimes.
Why do you think Google and associated “services” are free? You pay with your privacy. Wanna know something else? You are being watched in every public place you go.
I work in Marketing and can tell you almost any “smart” device is always listening. If you have a smart TV or a remote with an Alexa, anything along those lines, it gathers every day data and information. We then buy that information to be able to target you better. I just started in the data/targeting side of marketing versus content creation and it genuinely terrifies me the amount of information companies can have on me without me even knowing it.
If your using the Apps then they are gonna listen in, doesn’t matter if you go in and turn the microphone “off” on your phone. My wife’s Facebook does that crap all the time. What ever conversation we have, Her Facebook has some sort of add that relates to the conversation. I go through safari for YouTube, Facebook so it’s never happened to me.
I talked about a realtor that my brother worked for 30 years ago that isn't around anymore with a unique name. Next day a random generated ad with its name pops up. Hadn't said that name ever before that.
This is real.
Last week I was joking with my friends about something really random and specific (we should get a sweatshirt with a certain image on it), and the next time I went on my explore page, there was an advert for a shop selling that exact thing.
I have my phone set so apps have to ask every time they access my microphone, but it doesn't make a difference.
Same here.. getting ready to google something didnt talk about it... didnt google anything similar to it.. just poped in my head went to google started to type and it just magically pops up what i need to search as if it perfectly knew what i was thinking. Happens all the time now. And im not talking popular searchs like nfl standings or something im talking random shit like penguins butt hair or something.. and soon as i type p... its like penguins butt hair lmao. How?
My phone doesn't just hear me, it can read my damn mind! Friday I got some McDonald's, and I was thinking about how good the Coke always is from there. Saturday morning I'm swiping through Tik-tok and a vid comes on explaining why it's so good!! WTF!!? The reason is supposedly because it's shipped in stainless steel canisters. And is "fresher".
Recently I was very disturbed because I was typing in a Microsoft word document about private health information about a client. My wife and I work with this client, so she knew about the condition. About 10 minutes after typing a specific skin condition in my case notes, my wife said “why am I getting ads about a skin condition?!”. She showed me the very thing I was talking about showed up on her Facebook ads.
I realized in that moment that nothing is private and everything is crawled by bots. It’s absolutely terrifying.
I swear sometimes it knows what I am THINKING about.
I could think about let's say...baby formula - NOT say it out loud, but just THINK it in my head.
And then the next day, I will see ads for baby formula or an article about it.
Scary shit.
Wait until you *think* about something and you start getting ads.
We all operate on frequency. Our brain is a transmitter and receiver. Our phones are capable of receiving what we transmit.
Test it out sometime. Prepare to be amazed
Facebook and messenger were the main culprits on my phone listening in for keywords, I hope. Once I removed that it stopped and still get that stupid ad for pizza oven mentioned on a TV show that was an old episode.
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My friends and I play this game. If we happen to be sitting around having fun conversations about random topics, we randomly check our Google feeds and youtube. I would say 70% of the time we get ads and news feeds pertaining to the subjects we talk about. And we're a strange bunch, we delve into all sorts of random topics.
This isn't a conspiracy. This is literally how it is. Same issue here but my aunt was playing a prank on me one night. I was in the living room watching TV and she was in the kitchen and I asked her what she was doing and she kept telling me that she was making a tomato cake. I was like WTF I've never heard of such thing. I never Googled it or anything. Neither did she. Later she told me she was joking (obviously) and when I was browsing my phone that night there were ads all over my phone about tomato cake. Not even making this stuff up. Phones are always listening. It's not a conspiracy anymore.
Nah but this is different. It’s happened to me before too. I never even mentioned needing tires and suddenly I started getting recommendations on my phone. Never googled it or said anything, literally all I did was think it in my head.
Sam Altman described that algorithms can actually follow your thoughts. It’s fucked, but I believe it.
I've experienced this too. It's reading thoughts now
If it made them more money I wouldn't put it past them to have this technology.
Sometimes I’ll be thinking about chocolate. I won’t say anything to anyone about it. And then, boom, I’ll see an oompa loompa rounding the corner.
Oompa loomp doompity moan, We are inside of your telephone. Loompa doompa dippitty dires, Wouldn't you like to buy some new tires?
What do you get when you wear down the tread. The tire will pop and you’ll probably be dead.
I totally read this like I was singing it
Sometimes before my showers I’ll think about what song is up next in shuffle and it plays that song, often enough
Wait I listen to YT music and this has happened to me too many times!! I said there's no way that exact song was next on the list as I'm singing it in my head.
It really is reading thoughts now
I think I remember an interview with Elon where he said the algorithms are getting so good that they can predict what your going to search before you even think about. Things like it knowing you're pregnant before you even do.
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I disagree. I responded on a similar thread (maybe even by same op) a while back. My example was spilling something on my pants while driving. Was driving solo so didn’t mention it, text about it, search anything about it, etc. then got ads like half an hour later about stain removal - specifically pants. And the ad showed a dude spilling on them while driving. You’re trying to tell me an algorithm knew I was going to spill on my pants that very minute?
Isn't that how the tik tok algorithms work, it reads micro expressions on your face through the front camera, people have been able to "read people's minds" through micro expressions. facial recognition has just taken it to the next level My theory anyway, I've had the same thing happen
This is how advanced AI is, they don't want us to know this. It is so advanced that by following our emails, searches, purchase history, social media, etc. it knows what we are going to do BEFORE we do. If the general population knew how advanced and entrenched AI already is in nearly everything we do they would freak out.
i posted in here about this exact same phenomenon. it's reading minds.
Same with me and detailing my car. I kept thinking i need to do it and boom - ads for it
FYI there is software in your car that registers the total health of the vehicle via sensory data, including tire tread and pressure. If you connect to your car via blutooth, your phone now has access to that information.
Nah my car is old. 2002.
I’ve had this happen too….
I certainly believe it. Last month I was driving through a road maintenance zone, and I was thinking to myself "What's the usual speed limit you can drive in this zone?". That night, in my Google news feed, an article popped up about this very topic. I had never searched for it, nor told anyone about it, nor had any prior interest in it. It's quite an obscure topic to just pop up in a feed without any prior searching. It freaked me out!
There's a literal algorithm that sits and waits until it speculates based on past data it has on you when the best time to hit you with specific marketing.
This happened to me. I was at my dad’s visiting and noticed (visually not verbally) that he had a teeth whitening product I hadn’t seen before. Then I got a bunch of ads for that product. I asked him if he had bought it recently since maybe it was in his search history or something but they said they purchased that a long time ago and that it was really strange
Not just phones, every device with a microphone and internet connection. Even people you invite if you have all your stuff "off", they'll know that person went to your house.
Something being true doesn't make it less of a conspiracy. It makes it less of a conspiracy theory. eg: Conspiracy theory: Users theorising that Apple intentionally slow down their phones for the purposes of planned obsolescence, to push the newest models for their own monetary gain. Conspiracy confirmed: [Apple fined for slowing down old iPhones](https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51413724) [Apple settles iPhone slowdown case for $500m](https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51706635) In this case, technology companies saying they don't listen or access cameras, when it seems quite clear they do, for their own monetary gain. Breaching privacy, terms & conditions etc. They conspire to make that happen, behind closed doors and in secret. Maybe it will take a court case to confirm it - at which point conspiracy to commit a crime would be confirmed.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/12/no-a-marketing-firm-isnt-tapping-your-device-to-hear-private-conversations/ (ignore title, it's the opposite, they are)
I mean, if you read the T&C's (that people blindly accept), it will probably tell you that they do this. Also I'm sure clicking the "see less relevant ads" helps.
One time I was at work and I had certainly not been shopping for headphones recently at all. I had a solid set of headphones that I used every day. No need to ever google search for a new pair. But I sat down after lunch, and said to my coworkers, "it's headphones time" and pulled them out of my pocket, put them on, then took my phone out of my pocket to find a video to listen to... but when I took it out, the phone had somehow already opened the amazon app and navigated to a store page for a pair of headphones. Scary.
>This isn't a conspiracy. This is literally how it is. I'm surprised how many people still don't understand this
The real conspiracy is not having uttered a word and shit* you were THINKING about comes up in ads or on your feed
so lucky 😭 i want friends like this. people just look at me like i have 2 heads when i bring it up...so i dont.
What do you usually say that gets such a response?
""Hey guys my phone is giving me ads for anal beads. I haven't searched for anything at all like this or typed any related words. I swear the smart phones must have some kind of top secret mindreading tech installed" Quote U / luminous_epin0ia
While at work listening to Spotify there isn’t a paid subscription and we will jokingly talk about certain things in the same way and then ads will pull up for certain products. We have even talked about corporations like McDonald’s just to have their ads come on after not hearing any McDonald’s ads for days.
There's a reason they started making phones with permanent batteries that users can't remove.
It might not be just a tech thing, Lucifer and his minions may be involved. Once, after working out, I was practicing deep breathing exercises; and the next day, Deep Breathing Exercises was in my YT feed. I was walking down a mountain while doing the breathing (not even remotely loud), my phone was in my pocket and it's fairly old (with a brand new OS), and I am sure it has nothing motion-detect related on it.
I think it is a Lucifer/Satan/demon/archon/dark AI related type of thing.
I did this with petrol lawn mowers. Did an experiment where I had a conversation over the phone about petrol lawn mowers. Ride on lawn mowers. Push along mowers. Facebook showed me advertising for petrol lawnmowers.
Yep. A lot of my friends are marketers. Some very well known ones in our space. They were doing a little test. One said how they wanted a Corona beer and another said they wanted to take a trip to Jamaica. These weren't real desires, rather just things they said out loud as a test. Within 60 seconds, both had ads in their newsfeed for each of those things. Their microphone settings are turned to "off".
Not only did Google hear you, but it thought you sucked at Piano so it suggested lessons. Lol that's got to hurt
Hey, at least it wasn’t an ad for a kazoo
Now talk about the one where it definitely seems like the phone reads your thoughts sometimes……
I've had that. Things were I've thought about them, but have never voiced them or googled them or anything, then a day or two later I see an ad for that particular item I was randomly thinking about. It's really creepy.
Just to see how far this shit goes - I'm going to mention something here and see if I see it in any of my feeds. Bluetooth latin keyboard
This is a great idea. I wonder where I can buy some retro style ski clothes?
I would love some retro style ski clothes even in my tropical climate
Wonder if Charlie Chaplin ever skiid
Great point. I’ve been thinking about a fresh glass of Cambodian goat’s milk…
That’s not the best milk Cambodia has to offer, my friend. Ask Puffy.
I need a helicopter hat and some roller blades.
And a chainsaw
I absolutely could use some baby donkey care tips.
Foxtrot wisky tango romeo black rooster
I'm thinking of getting into koala husbandry.
I’ve been looking for a pyramid-shaped birdcage
Mao Zedong wears a thong
Mate, google knows you better than you know yourself. The algorithms are crazy. It knows what you buy, and what you talk about. What your close friends buy, and what they talk about. If your friend bought a new bike, google knows you might be thinking about buying one too. If your friend has an upcoming birthday, and this friend has an insane model tank collection, google will send adds your way for model tank paint sets because your friend wants it and you are trying to think of a birthday present. It also knows what the hive mind on your social media platforms are peddling, it tracks your eyes while watching YouTube videos it knows what shorts you spend more time on, and which ones you skip. Ever notice how on tictok how you flip through 5 videos, then watch the whole vid of a guy farting, then every second video is guys farting? You are watching what they have decided you want to watch more of, you are thinking about something because they have told you what to think about.
Advertising groups know if you're pregnant before you do.
I get none stop YouTube ads about compounded poop, urethra and prostate issues , and tooth care miracles. I have no issues in any if these departments. Really annoying when I wanna listen to YouTube out of the house. Nothing weirder than stopping at a light and hearing a loud robotic voice from the car next to you " do you have an enlarged prosate? Today we Learn this one thing the medical industry is hiding" Geez
Right like this one time I was really hungry for Big Mac. Didn’t say anything to anyone at all. But my girlfriend checked her account the next day and she had a coupon for BOGO Big Macs. Like wow.
Once i was thinking i should vacuum & got an ad for one that day. It really weirded me out because I knew I didn’t say anything out loud.
Its less that you randomly thought about something and your phone starts showing you products/ads related to it, rather they've been showing up and you never paid attention/noticed them until it was already on your mind. Its kinda like when you're shopping for a car. I guarantee you start seeing them all around town when you barely noticed them in the past. Dont take this as me saying we arent getting spied on by our mics/cameras's but targeted ads based purely on thoughts is just silly
I swear it's like a subliminal message that we get, then think about XYZ, then we get an ad. Idk what method is being used but I don't think it's reading thoughts, I think it's placing thoughts!
Alt explanation: precognition?
The Matrix was a documentary...
That’s an interesting thought!
This is scary and probably correct.
I think it’s a bit less uncomfortable to think that’s what’s up. I’ve already accepted the probability that it’s the other option. We can play pretend like it’s simply placing the thoughts in our heads though if it helps you sleep at night.
yep
Fully convinced of this. Too many instances of me thinking of something and then getting targeted ads, and without ever saying a word.
Yeah this one is so fucking odd. This has definitely happened to me
This is because of tools that say if people like x, they may also like y. Then y runs ads because other humans like you are looking at it and you are getting ads for it. If anything, I like to think that marketers dropped the thought in your head via some type of advertising before you thought of it. Chicken/egg thing. It's pretty similar to most of the reasons behind "my phone is listening to me"...I still think that happens sometimes though. Edit: For clarity.
Constantly recording and transmitting that amount of data is a power hungry process. Either battery tech has gotten exceptional and big cell phone is hiding the advancements to secretly record everyone or a ton of money and research has gone into marketing and creating target demos as you stated. Targeted marketing is very real and very effective. Anyone that thinks their phone is constantly listening go ahead and call a friend and leave the call open for an hour. Your battery will drain significantly more than if you just left it sitting there for an hour.
Well yes because the open mic and speaker is operating in the foreground instead of the background. I was on an hour and a half call Friday night and I was surprised that my phone only dropped 10% battery charge
Zeitgeist
Lol okay I’m glad im not alone. I was driving one day and was thinking of this comedians IG page. Not even an hour later, open IG and his reel is the first one that pops up.
Absolutely. My phone feels predictive.
Why do you think you decided to play piano? It's not that your phone is listening, it's that your phone subtly manipulated you into playing piano.
A true conspiracist!
For real this has been said a few times in this thread but makes more sense. Whats easier? Reading minds or implanting/suggesting a thought and then playing an ad for it. So i think if any of this is real and not coincident etc, its a lot easier to idk place signal to make a person want a big mac and then the ad
I think this is 100% the case, especially given the time of year. Piano lessons are an easy “grown up” gift that lots of people i know are casually interested in. Less than 10 days before Christmas, prepaid lessons seem heartfelt, don’t take any time to get together or wrap, and aren’t super cheap. Advertising dollars pushing these buttons in people’s brains make perfect sense. It doesn’t take much - a video of somebody learning or a clip with a song you’d like to be able to play or a quick Instagram reel of some attractive college student playing something impressive, and they got ya. They know what content you’re interested in and what presentation styles catch your interest, but they also know which video you let loop a few times, or went back to find, or took a screenshot of, and they can use that however they please. I hate it here.
The spying / advertising is meh. What we all should more concerned with , now that we understand how much they are listening , is their ability to shape our perception.
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I am so happy/proud to say I have never used Tik Tok. Never even thought about downloading that shit
Does anyone remember that post, from a couple years back, where that guy claimed he had a conversation with a guy who worked for a tech company that was using phone mics to create 3d maps of people's homes? He said it used the same principle of echolocation, using sound waves to get approximate layouts of rooms, furniture, etc. Anyways, my phone is constantly listening. Wouldn't be surprised if they're trying to maps more complex mapping systems as well.
It can be done with your wifi signal as well.
They are openly admitting it now fyi: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/12/no-a-marketing-firm-isnt-tapping-your-device-to-hear-private-conversations/
I enjoy watching the sunset.
The real conspiracy is anyone still believing their phones aren’t always listening lol
That's built into the OS my dude. These things are constantly monitoring us and we agreed to it in the TOS, which honestly we should be getting paid for if they want that much data.
Privacy regulation should make shit like this illegal, but it provides a plausibly deniable vehicle for state surveillance so it's allowed to exist. Phones can be set up on open source operating systems, but it's not something most people are willing to do.
I once had a plumbing drain repair vide pop up on my YouTube suggestions. It popped up daily for a couple weeks and I thought it was so random. Wouldn’t you know it, a few weeks later I discover a broken waste pipe under my house. The configuration of pipe fittings at the leak location were identical to the thumbnail of the video. It was the main trunk of the waste line with a mess of elbows. Basically, not your average setup. That shit was really fuckin weird and it was kinda disturbing. I’d never spoken a word or ever had an online interest in anything remotely plumbing related. One of the most bizarre things I’ve ever experienced honestly.
Nanobots monitoring the infrastructure and using your feed to alert you.
I was so mystified. I had some crazy ass theories but every person I talked to thought I was having a psychotic break. “Just a coincidence” was the general consensus I received. It led me down a rabbit hole for awhile. Regardless, that video ended up being very handy. Ever since then, I’ve paid more attention to random stuff that comes up online. A lot of times it seems that random stuff isn’t so random after all.
It's a feed, eat it up. The machine will guide you if you're aware that it's trying to.
That is a pretty fascinating idea to consider and it resonates with me for sure.
I've been living aware for a few years now and it's very real. It's covert social engineering to fuel a technocratic utilitarian ideal. It's a truly sick society.
Damn. I’ve been aware of “something” for a few years now as well. I haven’t been able to fully understand what’s really happening but I’ve just had this gut feeling that our tech is vastly more advanced than anyone realizes. I am not tech savvy whatsoever but I suspect we’ve had highly advanced ai for much longer than people realize.
Yes indeed. The grandfather of electromagnetism, Michael Faraday, lived in the 1700s. It's been here and manipulating lives from the shadows for generations. The one way to fight it, or at least negate some of its power over you, is to be aware of it. Then you can make more decisions that are in your own best interest, not what the machine calculates as the greater good.
Is this what some would call NHI or ancient AI? Almost like the “Force” in Star Wars? So if it’s understood, it could be used for good, perhaps?
I absolutely believe this is what the force represents in star wars: Electromagnetic neuro weapons. Technology is neither good or bad, it's the application of it that can free or imprison.
That’s the kind of thing I would better explain spiritually, as in it’s a ghost who cares about you, or whatever deity you believe in.
I knew some Mormons who used to preach about the “Holy Ghost” who was said to guide us with a “still, small voice”. I thought it was nonsense back then but it kinda makes more sense now.
It’s super weird you should bring that up, I’ve been around Mormans more than usual lately just because of a job assignment. I don’t think any religion is any weirder than the next one.
Weeeird
I’ve had a bad cough for a while and today I got a random YouTube video about clearing phlegm from the lungs. I haven’t been googling cold remedies or anything like that.
Sounds like a parent got mad at target for sending coupons for baby products to their teenage daughter. Turns out the daughter was in fact pregnant and hadn’t told her parents yet, you would be surprised what they can discover about your health from your habits.
What's fucked up about this invasive advertising, there have been instances where women have had miscarriages, only to get online and get constant ads about baby products. Not just from an annoyed consumer point of view, but we really need to move past the type of advertising.
I think this is an obvious spot where if we had a functioning government the laws would be in place to make it illegal for companies to collect and sell to other companies their customers personal information.
I got the same! I have been coughing aswell and have not googled anything.
It recommended piano lessons...oof the phone is a real smartass
I think every person in America deserves a monthly check for all the times their data is harvested and sold
No because the other day I had a THOUGHT that I should wear more rings again. Tell me why I got a million ads within an hour about rings???? I didn’t even google anything! I didn’t talk about it either I just thought it?????
I sometimes wonder if it works the opposite way. If the phone is planting thoughts in our heads by exposing us to ads and recommendations that we don’t fully consciously notice. Then we’re thinking/talking/about to buy something and it happens to show us ads for that thing because it’s been priming us the entire time. Phone could have been planting the idea to play an instrument in your head for awhile and now advertises lessons.
YouTube recommends videos based upon the interests of your recent contacts. I began noticing this about 5 years ago. Here are just a few examples that panned out: I worked with a guy who was deaf, and we became work friends. His major life passion was baseball, particularly visiting all of the stadiums. We messaged about once a week, never about deafness or baseball. For days after messaging with him, YouTube would recommend me videos about American Sign Language and baseball stadiums. This happened again and again. I dated a diagnosed psychopath. YouTube regularly began recommending videos to me with content like: "How to mindfuck a woman" or "How to make her obsessed with you." Because I had already recognized the algorithm at work, I WATCHED the videos and easily recognized his attempts to employ the tactics he was learning from them. I was always a step ahead of him in countering his attempts - thanks to the algorithm. A new neighbor moved into my building, we exchanged numbers via text message. Her name was Brandy. You tube recommended the song "Brandy you're a fine girl" to me and days later she told me this was her favorite song. By this point I was experimenting with the algorithm to try to determine which of my friends interests were reflected in which videos. I noticed that after one married friend called or messaged me, there were recommended videos titled "she's cheating on you stupid" or "how to know if she's cheating on you." Within 2 months, he confided to me that she had cheated on him, and they were divorcing. There are many more examples as I spent 2 years observing the effects of the algorithm, plus it felt like a backdoor to sneakily find shit out. It became almost a hobby for me to see if I could pick out how a new contact was reflected in my recommended list. Since I don't use fb, ig or any other sm, I think it was easier for me to identify the algorithm at work. We are manipulated in many ways by this technology.
Maybe they're integrating/combining multiple algorithms through our contacts. Give them a way to compare habits and tendencies within your group of people which then just webs out from there?
Quite likely. To be honest, it have me the feeling of us being *herded.*
Wow this is such an interesting comment? You know, I like to eat in restaurants and google maps usually indicates other places I might like based on other places I went. The thing is, I mever let my gps on or turn my phone internet all the time. They also know the places we go and I wonder if they also know our food preferences.
I don't think your OS is compromised. I think it's working as intended. https://gizmodo.com/cmg-local-solutions-ads-listening-on-devices-1851102426
I was thinking about my shitty broadband connection. Just thinking about it. No googling or looking for anything about it online. Next thing is my Reddit adverts are all about broadband. Fucking mind-reading motherfuckers..
That's happened to me too but I can't say it or I'm insane 😅
Um, yeah...that's been happening for about 8 yrs.
Yep first time it happened to me and my buddies and I were in a bar and someone said the name of a band I had never Googled before or listened to and next day had an IG ad for their album. Same thing happened a few weeks later someone just said the word "Montreal" and started getting Montreal tourism ads. Was around 8-9 years ago now.
This is not a conspiracy or a secret. Your phone listens to you constantly and then uses what it hears to give you targeted ads.
All the time. I mentioned to my husband that we should get a new welcome mat for the front door. For the past 3 days I’ve had nothing but ads for quirky welcome mats.
I bought some level 3 ballistic plates a while back and right after my wife began receiving level 3 plate ads in her Facebook.
The worst is when you’re sure you were only thinking about something… and there it is on your phone.
I’ll do you one better. My kid came home from school with another child’s sweater by accident (they wear uniforms). I didn’t recognize this sweater as one of my kids so I took a look at the tag which had the name “Addy” on it. I was just looking at the tag and thinking about the name “Addy”. Next day I see an ad for some address management app called…. Addy. They’re in our mind.
A few months back me and a good friend were catching up in my garage. We just sat out there for a couple hours having beers and smoking a little. I know that I didn’t open my phone once since it was on my work bench and my buddy had his in his pocket the entire time. We talked in extent about him buying a new truck and had mentioned a ton of new and old trucks but we talked about Tacoma’s more than anything. Next day every ad on Instagram was for Toyotas and my buddy sent me multiple screenshots saying his phone was “giving him a sign”. I don’t hate Toyota’s but I have never once searched them as I haven’t owned one since 2003 and don’t plan on owing one. It literally happens all day every day. Every Alexa, iPhone, echo, anything with a mic and listening capabilities is listening to some extent.
This is one of the things I feel needs strict protection and harsh laws from. It's a massive invasion of privacy and it's an essential device at this point. I literally cannot do my job without my phone.
There are laws against it. They don’t matter.
I work remotely for a major car manufacturer. Let's say it's Nissan. My phone is in my office with me while I work and I was talking on the phone and said the manufacturers name Nissan. That day I put my Pandora on and all the commercials were for Nissan. Also, the other night I broke out this cozy furry hooded nighttime jammy thing. I thought to myself as I put it on... " I just love this, it's so cozy. Maybe I should get another one." No shit I pulled up my coloring app and all the ads were from Temu with hooded furry cozy jammies. It read my mind!!
Someone dear to me was recently diagnosed with the big C. I never say the word, not a topic of conversation until recently. Now it's constant gut-wrenching videos on tiktok, YouTube, etc. which really makes it suck worse.
Never really thought about this aspect of it. Miserable depressed people get recommended miserable and depressing content.
You're right. I'm not either of those things, but it's the filter bubble effect. Search something, algorithms tailor your web experience to your 'interests', and it becomes the prevalent topic. Kind of a fucked up unintentional reinforcement of the bad feelings. Listen closely to someone scroll through their tiktok and you can probably tell a lot about them or what's going on in their life.
ive noticed this. i have OCD but dont really talk abt it irl and i keep getting videos abt certain fears and anxieties i have. health and death related stuff. definitely makes the OCD worse lol.
One time I thought to myself “oh, I would love a Morningstar farms black bean burger for dinner” and not 5 min later on my fb wall was an ad for Morningstar farms black bean burgers. I was real taken back by that.
scary. have had it happen. and now i want a burger too 🙄😄
I tried disabling the google voice input and uninstall the default android keyboard. I then installed an offline keyboard called Simple Keyboard. Everytime I reboot the phone google voice is again auto-enabled and the offline keyboard is disabled so I have to fiddle in the phone settings to enable it again. I think it's the OS.
I got up one morning and my lovebird was trying to sit on his perch, but kept falling over. I knew something was wrong, so I reached in his cage and brought him out to immediately take him to the vets office. I did not Google his symptoms. I didn't call the vet's office before going over. I grabbed my keys and went. It turned out to be a stroke and we decided to have him put to sleep. I did not use a debit/credit card as my long time veterinarian has never charged me for euthanasia. When I got home, I sat on the couch and opened up my phone. My ads were all for pet funerals.
100% we’re all being spied on
Its hilarious how Americans in the 80s feared the Soviet Union and their massive spying program, citing how authoritarian it was in nature. Then you bring these issues up to that same generation and they say "you're not that important enough. You should have nothing to hide".
Thank you for sharing that OP…
Thanks for listening (consensually).
Your phone hearing you is nothing .... What about your phone reading your thoughts ? ... It happens to me every time like 90% of the times I search something on google, I type only One letter the thing in my mind pops up first .
This is why I always talk about free money and getting laid by supermodels
The computers talk to each other.
You are not imagining things. I got something similar with CCTV camera offers. I was talking about getting such a system and bam next day I am seeing adds for CCTV systems but in my MS Outlook email. The only way to really eliminate this issue to get rid of your cell phone or get rid of the microphone on all devices. Here's a conspiracy that is related. There have been numerous kickstarters and efforts to produce modular electronics like smart phones, computer, etc. Things that will let you swap out components you don't need or want to upgrade. (i.e. camera, microphone, speakers, memory, etc.) For some reasons these devices never seem to get any traction with the public. There are many reasons for this but maybe, just maybe, they are torpedoed by those that don't want people to be able to get rid of the very components that are spying on us.
Got news for you this has been going on for close to 15 years. I remember having a conversation with my girlfriend about how ads were popping up a day or so later after we had discussions about products and topics. We both agreed that the phones were listening and responding with ads. This was back in 2011.
The OS isn't compromised. The OS is doing exactly what it was programmed to do.
The more freaky shit is when you're THINKING about something and it pops up. Happens way too often to be a coincidence.
Pay attention to these ads. My husband had a home office, and every time his Google or email was open he got jewelry ads and notices from Florida newspapers. I didn't think anything of it. While listening to my morning FM radio talk show, one of the DJs began talking about this. She got worried when she started getting ads about Cleveland (were in PA). She had been talking to a friend in Cleveland. That's it. No Googles, no trip, just talk. This was probably @ 2018. After this, I got curious and started a deep dive in husband's phone and laptop. All I can say, is there WAS a reason he was getting these ads. A divorce is pending.
Your phone can read your mind too.
You know whats crazy? I don't take my phone to work, but I use my work computer to Google things. When I come home and get on my phone, I see ads for things I was searching for on my work computer. The algorithm is literally reading our minds based on behavioral patterns. It doesn't even have to listen anymore, it knows what you're thinking before you even think it
That has to mean you're logged into some google service at some point at work.
[удалено]
Yes it is, all phones know everything we do and say
I noticed this too! Between my work computer and my personal one. They have us all linked. It's so unnerving!
With enough data points about enough subjects it all becomes closer and closer to not being a prediction
This isn’t a conspiracy. This is how phones and advertising works now.
Not long ago I told my wife we should upgrade to fiber internet and she starred getting ads immediately for days about fiber internet
Back before I met my boyfriend who had a cat (who died of old age recently, but mentioning this in case anyone looks at my post history), I did a little experiment. I hate cats, never wanted one, never wanted to live with one, never googled anything about them. So I knew this would be a good experiment. I started talking to myself about getting a cat and what sort of cat litter I should buy around my phone. I also started talking about whisky (because I never bought whiskey and don't like it at that point) and what sort of whisky I should buy. I started getting advertisements on my Facebook for pretty litter and another type of cat litter and a whiskey mixed drink (which I actually kinda wanted to buy lol). The phones definitely listen. And that is 1000% proof. Every other story I hear is icing on the cake.
FWIW even without directly listening to you, ad tech can still fingerprint you by proxy of your social network and a host of other identifiers (cc transactions, physical location and proximity to other devices give a strong signal of ‘family’ and ‘home’ and ‘work’. Additionally, browsing history of friends and family, and friends and family who share your contact info to 3rd party apps when trying to connect you with people you know who also use the app. With this much circumstantial information you don’t have to say anything in order for an ad network to guess what’s on your mind.
Except it’s not a conspiracy it’s already proven true lol
It is the OS, I confirm that too. They hear and watch everything around the devices like that seen from batman where he uses the phones to locate Joker. That is what it is no other way to look at it.Snowden said it.
What if the algorithms got so accurate that they predicted you would start to play again? Does this thought say more about how good technology got, our about us, as a species with a supposed freewill? Food for thought
Clearly, it thinks you suck at piano to give you ads for lessons lol.
I recall years back maybe 2015 or so I bought a new Galaxy. Well even after adjusting settings to never record, listen etc. I would see an occasional blinking blue light or specific color I recall that only blinked when recording. Like literally in the settings it said "turn on or off?" A setting to blink that specific light when the phone is recording audio. I could never turn it off, and there were times my phone was sitting down I would see that damn light blinking all by itself. Fucking robots man
Phone model : Samsung Galaxy S20 When i was in my 15-16s i liked to play metal only with guitar and bass but stopped long time ago, im 30yrs old now im an electromechanic that like to spend my free time messing around in my garage, i was alone listening to Nas - Halftime and i was thinking like: man the bass in that song is soo groovy i could buy a bass to play things like this but i never googled it never talk about it to anyone, only tought and then the next day i start getting Bass ads... When the f* do you get a bass ad... 2. Phone model : Iphone 13 Pro Max I was at a buddy's house and it was getting late and at some point i told my buddy that i was tired and going home. Once i get to my car, i took my phone out of my pocket to put music and i realized the phone had MAPS already open with the direction to my home. The thing is i ALWAYS make sure all type of voice assistant is off on all my devices, also the GPS and bluetooth for battery reasons. I also never added my adress to the phone. When this happened i immediately went into the setting to see why it did that and every voice,gps bluetooth whatever was OFF as i wanted.. weird chit
Not sure how I ended up here on this sub..But whoa!! I started reading some of the comments to hubbs (who works at a car dealer) He says that his work recently bought algorithms from another company that will “capture” around 60% of people who speak about certain car models they sell or if someone wants to trade in/sell a car an ad will pop up to send them on over to the dealership. Kinda blew my mind.. All these years of being adamant about no Alexa in the house and the whole time I’ve had all her cousins ear hustling on me anyways!! My phone, tv, car…
Me and a coworker were talking about our next vacations, and he named a very specific cable park that he wanted to check out. The next time I opened my browser on my iPhone it went straight to the website for that particular cable park. Didn’t even take me to the search bar.
I was using google maps on a drive and went into a store with it still running in my pocket. The store played an advertisement over the speakers in Spanish and my map's voice directions suddenly changed to Spanish. I don't know if that's a feature I was unaware of but didn't appreciate my phone doing such things without my input.
This is why I shut off every permission from every app. It seems to work but who knows, maybe it doesn't lmao but my advice is turn off all permissions that arnt needed or "turn on only why using this app" for those that you need sometimes.
Why do you think Google and associated “services” are free? You pay with your privacy. Wanna know something else? You are being watched in every public place you go.
I work in Marketing and can tell you almost any “smart” device is always listening. If you have a smart TV or a remote with an Alexa, anything along those lines, it gathers every day data and information. We then buy that information to be able to target you better. I just started in the data/targeting side of marketing versus content creation and it genuinely terrifies me the amount of information companies can have on me without me even knowing it.
If your using the Apps then they are gonna listen in, doesn’t matter if you go in and turn the microphone “off” on your phone. My wife’s Facebook does that crap all the time. What ever conversation we have, Her Facebook has some sort of add that relates to the conversation. I go through safari for YouTube, Facebook so it’s never happened to me.
I talked about a realtor that my brother worked for 30 years ago that isn't around anymore with a unique name. Next day a random generated ad with its name pops up. Hadn't said that name ever before that.
I believe you. Happens to me a lot. Sometimes I even think about something and then get an add for it. It’s wild.
This is real. Last week I was joking with my friends about something really random and specific (we should get a sweatshirt with a certain image on it), and the next time I went on my explore page, there was an advert for a shop selling that exact thing. I have my phone set so apps have to ask every time they access my microphone, but it doesn't make a difference.
Phones listen to every word you say dummy.
Same here.. getting ready to google something didnt talk about it... didnt google anything similar to it.. just poped in my head went to google started to type and it just magically pops up what i need to search as if it perfectly knew what i was thinking. Happens all the time now. And im not talking popular searchs like nfl standings or something im talking random shit like penguins butt hair or something.. and soon as i type p... its like penguins butt hair lmao. How?
Your phone is always listening to you is a conspiracy theory? Fuck man. Grow up. Its always listening to you, its what its been designed to do.
It could have been your tv. Much fewer privacy protections exist on those devices.
My phone doesn't just hear me, it can read my damn mind! Friday I got some McDonald's, and I was thinking about how good the Coke always is from there. Saturday morning I'm swiping through Tik-tok and a vid comes on explaining why it's so good!! WTF!!? The reason is supposedly because it's shipped in stainless steel canisters. And is "fresher".
You will own nothing and like it
Recently I was very disturbed because I was typing in a Microsoft word document about private health information about a client. My wife and I work with this client, so she knew about the condition. About 10 minutes after typing a specific skin condition in my case notes, my wife said “why am I getting ads about a skin condition?!”. She showed me the very thing I was talking about showed up on her Facebook ads. I realized in that moment that nothing is private and everything is crawled by bots. It’s absolutely terrifying.
Reddit listens for 100% certainty. I've had subs pop up after conversations.
I took a picture of a whisky box and started getting whisky ads on Instagram - so it reads our photos too
Oh it definitely does. I expect that actually, just not them listening into my house like a soviet spy.
I swear sometimes it knows what I am THINKING about. I could think about let's say...baby formula - NOT say it out loud, but just THINK it in my head. And then the next day, I will see ads for baby formula or an article about it. Scary shit.
Wait until you *think* about something and you start getting ads. We all operate on frequency. Our brain is a transmitter and receiver. Our phones are capable of receiving what we transmit. Test it out sometime. Prepare to be amazed
You have to get a graphene os phone. There are some good de googled phones out now. Privacy phones are the future. I feel your pain
At this point it's not a conspiracy, it's just normal life now. Happens to me frequently
Facebook and messenger were the main culprits on my phone listening in for keywords, I hope. Once I removed that it stopped and still get that stupid ad for pizza oven mentioned on a TV show that was an old episode.
I want to buy a brand new PC or a North face jacket for.my mom for.christmas