I thought my phone listening to me was a myth until my friend mentioned a niche brand of hiking boots in person and my feed was flooded with ads for them 2 hours later.

We were offline in a state park near Boulder, zero search history for the brand, and the targeted ads started before I even got home, which convinced me the mic access is way more active than they admit. Has anyone else had a super specific offline conversation turn into ads?

3 comments

3 Comments

grant8262mo agoMost Upvoted

Could just be a wild coincidence, right?

jenniferc712mo ago

Know exactly what you mean, grant826, that feeling is just too weird to ignore. It's like the universe is trying to send a signal when stuff lines up that way. I've had it happen and it never feels like just plain luck. Makes you wonder what's really going on sometimes.

elizabeth_ramirez1mo ago

But isn't that just what we tell ourselves to feel better about things we can't explain? I get that part, trust me, but after a while you start noticing patterns that don't feel random at all. Like, if it was just once or twice maybe, but when it keeps happening with the same people or the same kind of stuff, it's harder to brush off. I think our brains are really good at seeing connections, but that doesn't mean they're always wrong about them. There's a difference between seeing faces in clouds and having something line up so perfectly it gives you chills. I guess I just believe some things don't happen for no reason.