Have you ever had a conversation with someone about something and then get an ad for it on your instagram feed the next day? Freaky right! It really sells itself to the whole ‘your phone is listening to you’ theories that roam the internet. However according to this article, that is not the case.

Ok lets back track a little bit, so before beginning my research for this digital artefact I went to an all you can eat steak and frites dinner in Surry Hills. The next day I had a post appear on my instagram feed for “Sydneys Best Spots for Steak and Frites”, initially I thought wow what a coincidence but this was no coincidence. I recall telling my coworker about the dinner with my phone being in my pocket, however I also posted a picture of the meal tagging the location of restaurant on my Instagram story.

Steak and Frites Instagram story.

Instagram post on feed next day

I pondered if Instagram used my post data as evidence that I liked steak and frites, or if I was being listened to when talking to my coworker. While at uni the following Monday, I experimented with some help from friends. We all placed our home screen locked phones down on a table and started mentioning Uggs in conversation. We talked about Uggs for about 2 minutes trying to excessively Ugg as much as possible. Not to my surprise, my friend sent me this screenshot the next day…

An Ugg AD on Snapchat. Why Snapchat, I’m not sure yet…however I have some theories I am yet to test.

• Was it the last app that was used?
• Was the app open within the phone?
• Is it her most used app?
• Has she bought from Snapchat ads before?

Honestly the list could go on forever, however it challenges ideas presented in the CBS news article from earlier. Industry veteran Ari Paparo states “I can guarantee your phone is not … listening to you …”

As the article was published in April this year, it shows very recent reasoning to believe your not being listened to, however how fast could that have changed. Have recent IOS/android software updates encrypted hidden enhanced data collection, and where does AI have a role in this?

Another project I am working on this semester is a marketing analysis on Afterpay. After doing some preliminary research about Afterpay on my laptop I picked up my phone, opened TikTok (as you do when taking a study break) and what did I see…an Afterpay AD of course! So now my laptop is talking to my phone about me?