So much of social media (and online in general) is just ads in disguise and people shilling products, intentionally or otherwise, and it ultimately spills over into real life conversations. So I agree with you completely.

You might have given a thumbs up to your aunt Gina’s photo of her and her friends at the office party celebrating her promotion. Ad networks see it as you interacting with a photo that contains a bottle of Schmudd soda, even if that’s a detail you didn’t even notice.

You have dinner with your dad that night and the topic of Schmudd comes up due to the latest forced controversy (ermagerd the trans) so naturally when you start seeing Schmudd commercials the next day, you might assume your phone was listening to that conversation. But actually the reason you’re seeing the ads is because of the thumbs up to aunt Gina’s post.

And yes, the tracking and analytics tools find those types of patterns and relationships, and so much more. And they’ve been able to do that for over a decade. No telling how good it’s gotten since I was last working adjacent to that field.

On the other hand, it’s amazingly easy for advertisers to figure out what topics / products you’re talking about without the need for constantly recording via your microphone. In most instances, it doesn’t even really make sense to constantly record audio via the mic to monitor folks, other means are much more cost efficient while being just as effective. That’s not to say that some app isn’t or hasn’t done it, just that historically speaking, it hasn’t been as ubiquitous as a lot of people seem to think or imply.

Sometimes with these things, you have to apply Occam’s Razor.

I stayed with some family during the holidays a few years ago and they are conspiracy theory fanatics unfortunately. The type that swear their phones are listening to everything they say. They get ads for things they’ve only ever talked about in person. That sort of thing.

As proof, they pointed out how the prior night the topic of old timey candy from our childhoods came up and all of a sudden they were getting news stories and facebook ads about those liquid filled wax bottle candies. To them, the only plausible explanation is that our phones were listening to us.

Except, as I pointed out, I specifically looked those wax bottle candies up later that night because I was curious if they were still for sale. They live way out in the country and there’s limited cellular data, so basically everybody there that night was using the same wifi connection. Which means, our internet activity is all linked because to the outside world, we’re all on the same network/IP address. Even more curious, though, nobody got ads for any of the other candy that we talked about and which I didn’t specifically look up. So, if our phones were actually recording us and serving up ads based on the things we talked about, then why didn’t we get ads for Blackjack gum, wax lips, and Brach’s? Only the very specific one I happened to search for.

I live in a part of the USA where, decades later, I still hear brand new and seemingly made-up idioms on a fairly regular basis. This skill set, making sense of otherwise fake sounding idioms based on limited context, is practically a necessity 'round these parts. After all, you can’t feed a cow a carrot and expect it to shit you out a cake.

My opinion is subject to change, since I do plan to eventually give Eternal another attempt, but I know why I like 2016 better. It’s because I can go at my own pace and have the freedom to play the battle scenarios out how I want to (for the most part).

Eternal basically tells you early on, you have to go, go, go, go, go. Keep moving or you die. I find that kind of annoying.

But then the fact that you’re almost constantly being forced to use every single button, skill, weapon, etc on-demand, in very specific ways with a fair amount of precision basically kills the joy for me. I don’t get to play games much, sometimes it’s weeks or months between sessions. I can’t keep up with all that bullshit and it sucks nearly every last drop of fun out of the game if I have to waste my limited fun time having to relearn all the mechanics.

I just want to casually rip and tear for fun. Eternal felt like a micromanaging boss constantly telling me that I’m doing things wrong and behind on my unrealistic deadlines.

Just an opinion, but I feel like trouble was on the horizon for Target regardless of this DEI fiasco.

Of the major online general retailers, it seemed like Target held out the longest against 3rd party sellers. That was one of the biggest reasons I preferred to buy from Target. But they caved on that and somehow came out with one of the worst implementations. That decision really tarnished their brand for me.

Another factor that made me favor Target over the years is that their clothing offerings were pretty decent quality in styles I liked and affordable prices. But the last few times I’ve purchased clothes from Target, it’s been outright junk and Target should be ashamed. Either way, it turned me off from buying clothes there, and by extension, soured me to the brand almost entirely.

By the end of 2024 I had basically given up on Target, and I can’t help but think that all the issues I was having were systemic to the company. Feels like preemptively caving on diversity and equity policies was just another sign of the actual problem the company is facing (i.e. bad management and poor decision making).

MY new Tesla? Doubt it. Considering I’m unemployed due to this clown administration and I don’t tend to upgrade much of anything, let alone a vehicle, unless/until the old one no longer functions.

The tape is a lie.

Mark my words, Big Minge will never let this technology see the light of day.

To be honest, most of the games I’ve played in the past 5+ years since I’ve started to get back into the hobby are stressful in various ways. That doesn’t mean they aren’t “quelling” stress and anxiety for me, just that when I’m playing them, they stress me out and give me anxiety.

Take for instance my current game du jour: Doom 2016. When battles are going, I’m for sure sweating and amped up, stressed, anxious, and what have you. It’s anything but relaxing while playing. But still quite enjoyable.

So, perhaps the “quelling” comes after? A bit like a workout, where you’re hyped up and exerting yourself, but after the fact you mellow out and relax?