Those Ads That Hit Weirdly Close To Home

 Arielle Lyons

al417019@ohio.edu

A parody of the targeted T-shirt ads found on Facebook (Image: Amazon)

At this point, we're all aware that we get ads explicitly catered to our wants, needs, and interests, while scrolling through social media is no coincidence. We shop for clothes and see ads for very similar clothes mere minutes later. We tell Facebook our ages and genders, and it doesn't take long to see ads catered to our demographics. And yes, our phones are probably listening to our conversations to find out what we want (this YouTube video certainly makes it seem that way). 

So, how should we feel about this? Have we been violated, or have we willingly invited this presence into our homes?

Of course, businesses have to make money. And if we're spending money on things we may have already wanted, no harm is being done. Maybe not. Our phones don't have human brains, but with minds of their own that can function enough to sell us products, it's almost as if we have another person following us around wherever we go. That certainly isn't what we sign up for when buying a new iPhone or downloading a new social media app. 

How far, precisely, does this tracking for advertisements go? According to AdAge contributor Jason Jercinovic:

There are nearly 2 billion Facebook users globally. About 200 billion tweets are shared on Twitter every year. In addition, Google processes 40,000+ searches every second. As a result, we can now assess the entirety of an individual's social activity: every word, every picture, every emoji.

That may not bother some people. We willingly invite Alexa into our homes; indeed, the ads we see are no different. And maybe this shouldn't bother us. We understand what an ad is, why we're seeing it, and what they want from us. But a child doesn't. Children are using social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok more and more (YouTube, especially for young children, has become a significant source of entertainment). With that comes the inundation of advertisements. This New York Times piece from 2013 outlines the dangers of advertisements for children (I'd add a quote from it, but it suddenly disappeared behind a paywall after reading it once). 

Admittedly, this isn't a problem that will go away anytime soon. However, being aware of the problem is the first step to finding a solution. As long as we're aware of the invasive nature of targeted ads, we can work around them and recognize how they affect ourselves and others.