Personalized Ads:

I can’t be the only one who has experienced this. You’re sitting at work, having a nice discussion on your lunch with your co-workers. A wide variety of topics come up as you enjoy conversation. Your phone sits beside you, seemingly innocently just set by your side. But in fact this isn’t true; it’s been listening to your every word.

Hear me out on this. Have you ever been in a conversation, only to hours later be scrolling through your social media feeds like Instagram or facebook, only to have the topic of your conversation posed as an ad? Say you were talking about taking up running. You’re interested in potentially getting a gym membership, or getting in shape. Next thing you know, whilst scrolling through your family’s drama on Facebook, you see it; an ad to join your local gym.

By now you probably think I’m losing my mind. While this is true, it’s not for this reason. It’s happened too many times to be a coincidence; your phone is listening to you.

It already follows your every move, tracks your every location; it probably knows more about you and your daily routines than you do. It tracks your spending habits. Where do you spend your time? Where do you spend your money? Where do you work? It’s got the answer to everything, regardless of how vigilant you are.

At first you think it’s convenient. Oh cool! I was just thinking about joining the gym, now here’s an ad to save money on a membership, what are the odds of this!? But this gets old; it turns from convenient, to downright creepy.

Sometimes, it gets even creepier. These ads will sometimes find you cross platform. Remember that sweater you were just looking at on Amazon? Log in to Twitter, look at the sponsored ad; it’s the sweater! This happened to me quite a few times, and I’ll be honest; it was a little unsettling. Don’t get me wrong: I know technology is the way of the future, and I’m definitely not one to believe in conspiracy theories about the government and them tracking and monitoring our every move. Truth is, they don’t need to; we do it for them, by carrying around our cellphones, and letting them into our lives and daily routines.

What can we do? Well, the truth is, really nothing. You can however, make your ads feel a little less personalized by adjusting the settings on your phone. If you own an iPhone, click here. for information on turning off your personalized and location based ads.

One thing is for sure: there are both perks and benefits to this. Maybe you end up buying that thing you forgot about, only to have your phone give you an ad for in hours later. Maybe you, like a lot of people, discover something you never thought you’d look at!

I myself have benefited from this. My personal example is the website, transparent tracks. I’m always looking for different things for gifts, the norm gets old after awhile. I had not even heard of this website before Instagram kept telling me I needed to buy one of these tracks. Truthfully, it took months before I even considered it, and even ended up buying one as a gift for my sister.

If individualized, customizable gifts are what you’re searching for; I’ve got the site for you, for the music lover in your life. Check them out, with the link above.

So maybe you enjoy having the internet provide you with ads, or maybe it creeps you out. Regardless of your stance, and I’m sorry to say; it won’t change anytime soon, so we best get use to it!

Author's Notes

Thank you for reading! I appreciate all the love and support. If you liked what you read, be sure to 'heart' it. Feel free to check out my profile for more stories and articles. Link here.

If you have any comments or want to chat, find me on insta! @lindsay.phillips42