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I realized my social feeds were tracking my vet visits after my dog's $600 allergy test
For years I thought the ads I saw were random junk, but last month my vet in Denver ran a $600 allergy panel on my dog Rufus and things got weird fast. Not even an hour after I paid, my Instagram feed was full of grain-free dog food brands and one company selling freeze-dried salmon treats. I had never typed a word about dog allergies anywhere. I just talked out loud in my kitchen about it while my phone sat on the counter. Then it hit me, I had been blaming the ads for being creepy when really I was the one handing over data the dumb way by leaving my mic open and my location on for every app. I went through my settings and found 14 apps with mic access I never approved. So my hot take is this, the ads are not magic and they are not reading your mind, we are just careless and then act shocked when a salmon treat company shows up. Anyone else do the settings audit after a weird ad and find way more access than they expected?
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bettyfox1h ago
Wow, 14 apps with mic access is nuts. Did you actually cross-check that list against the permissions you remember granting, or did some of them just show up without you ever touching the toggle? I want to know if this is sloppy default settings or apps sneaking it in.
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