Are our smart phones listening to us?

Sue98 · ‎03-09-2010

Four to five times in this he last couple of weeks this subject has been brought up in completely different groups of people, which I have found to be ironic in and of itself.

I have had at least five people tell me similar stories. They claim they have discussed various products in conversations with other people only to find out later that day that product appears as an ad in their FB newsfeed. I had only noticed this happening to me when I was actually searching online for a particular item. Then it would appear in an ad in my newsfeed. That makes sense to me, but it is very ironic that products/items you are simply talking about in the presence of your cell phone mysteriously appear on your phone in ads.

For some reason I still wasn't totally convinced this actually happens until last night. We were all at my sister's house for a birthday party when my other sister mentioned how sparse her eyebrows are. She said she has been contemplating getting her eyebrows tattooed or possibly having microblading done. Then we were all discussing what microblading is, as I wasn't sure and had only ever heard of it, but didn't know what the actual procedure was. The conversation continued for only a few minutes, and then the conversation changed.

I got home from my sister's house, and there on my phone was a video about microblading, which I have NEVER searched. A little too ironic I think.

Bridgegal · ‎03-09-2010

I'm interested in thoughts about this.

DH was researching cameras on his desktop computer and bought one from Canon. A couple of days later he got an ad on cameras from Best Buy on his cell phone. Now we can see how that might happen due to all devices in the house having the same IP address but your situation is way different.

I'll be checking in here for responses.

Teddie · ‎03-10-2010

@Sue98

This has happened several times in our home, as well. My daughter and I both have smartphones and had been talking about different products and she opened her laptop and the product was there, that quick. That is creepy.

Also, my phone has been beside me when I’m talking to someone and all of a sudden Siri started talking to me. Again, creepy.

fthunt · ‎12-24-2010

I wouldn't put trust in most electronic devices that are connected to the outside world. Your example is spooky. Google is following us from website to website. I wanted to learn more about a friend's dog - a mix - and ever since puppies for sale have been on most of my screens. A while back baby monitors were opening garage doors - cross talk with people on their phones, etc. That Amazon 'chick' that answers your questions - plays music on demand is the scariest of all. None in my house - or never.

I can still tun on my own lamp and Christmas tree - thank you!

dooBdoo · ‎06-27-2010

Count me as someone who was among the skeptics for a long time... until recent months. A growing number of tech experts feel this is happening and that it's not just someone's imagination. I think there's something to it, and I think it involves apps that use the microphone on our devices.

Articles on the topic from Tech World Home:

"How true it is that companies use your phone’s microphone to listen to you and what to do about it"

November 18, 2018

https://techworldhome.com/how-true-it-is-that-companies-use-your-phones-microphone-to-listen-to-you-...

"Curious coincidences that make you suspect that your phone may be listening to you"

https://techworldhome.com/curious-coincidences-that-make-you-suspect-that-your-phone-may-be-listenin...

Few things reveal your intellect and your generosity of spirit—the parallel powers of your heart and mind—better than how you give feedback.~Maria Popova

ShowMe · ‎09-06-2010

This happens quite often because of posting here on the forums...... Get emails all the time from vendors that are trying to sell me something I may have just mentioned here......something like a medication for arthritis, as an example. Do believe they have folks reading and feeding them information.

Nothing is private any more.

Westshopper · ‎12-28-2014

YES! Just last week at work where I keep my phone on silent the phone a Samsung Galaxy inside a phone wallet, inside my purse whree it stays until lunch or break when take a look at it. Anyway I was on the phone with client and the phone I could hear talking to me. Well I hung up my office phone when the call was finished got my cell phone out to see what was up. It was searching a samsung voice command you can use like google plus to talk to your phone which I never use either on my phone. Anyway it was trying to search for what I said which was something it didn't find. Very creepy first time it happen to me, I think were being hacked somehow with things happening more and more.

Tribesters · ‎03-10-2010

@Sue98

I posted a while back about an incident that happened to me. At the time I thought it was my Amazon Echo that was listening but now I wonder if it was my phone, I was getting ready to leave the house. I asked DH if he was going anywhere that day. He replied that he might go to Home Depot. I went out to start my car & my phone google maps lit up. It said “8 minutes to Home Depot” and gave the fastest route. So how do you explain that? I seldom go to Home Depot.

cotton4me · ‎03-09-2010

It happened to me too. I was watching televsion with my smart phone nearby. The TV show was discussing travel to Italy. Next thing I know, ads about traveling to Italy were showing up in my email, etc.