• funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    especially as it doesn’t even happen.

    “oh yeah well how come I was talking about something mundane, common and extremely popular and then but 4 days later saw an ad for it?!?!?”

    big mystery indeed

    • thanks_shakey_snake@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      You’re getting some downvotes, but yes, lol. I mean I’m not sure there’s never any surreptitious hot mic eavesdropping going on, but people definitely often assume so when there’s a more parsimonious explanation, e.g.:

      Most peoples’ ads are targeted based on more mundane technology, and they see hundreds of ads per day, so if even 1% of their ads overlap with something that they were just talking about, they’ll still be fairly likely to see a spooky “I was just talking about that!” ad relatively frequently. Not to mention that they’re likely to be thinking about a thing because their platforms are also proactively marketing that thing to them. Just pareidolia, no eavesdropping necessary.

      Doesn’t mean eavesdropping isn’t happening-- Just means it doesn’t need to be happening for that effect to occur.