I have weekly sessions with my therapist using Google Meet. Two weeks ago, we were talking about a subject that is an uncommon interest of mine, something I was exploring by talking it over with her. I had not researched it online, had not spoken to my family about it. There was a concept floating around in my head that I named, a very specific reference to a specific activity. Again, that activity is not something I have ever explored anywhere in any sense. Maybe I liked a post about it in Facebook 10 years ago, who knows. It was something I had heard about once or twice and there is a name for it that is very specific.
Later that same day as I was scrolling through SubStack, I encountered a post detailing a history of the practice and who coined the phrase. There is no way, no possible way that it was a mere coincidence.
The week before that, I was watching a YouTube reaction video that was showing clips from another video. A few days later, I was scrolling on Substack and began reading an article that had a YouTube video embedded. The article seemed really familiar. I went back to the original reaction video and sure enough, the Substack article was by the same guy from the clipped video. What in the what?? Again, simply not a coincidence. I actually had to marvel about how sophisticated the algorithm had to be to do that.
I don't remember giving Substack access to YouTube and Google Meet or vice versa. I don't recall giving Google the ability to listen in on legally protected conversations between my therapist and I and showing me content on a different app related to that conversation. Nonetheless, seeing that the average Terms of Service is longer than a set of old school Brittanica encyclopedias, I'm not the least bit surprised by it. So no, your data isn't safe.
I had to Google info about a prescription medication yesterday and only afterward realized how much data I willingly feed into Google products on a daily basis. These platforms truly know me better than I know myself. The worst part is, some of the things Im shown are genuinely useful even if there's a Twilight Zone vibe to how we get there. It's honestly frustrating that that should be the case. I mean, who are we that algorithms can know us so intimately but not actually care about us at all?
I think these are fascinating examples of the interconnected digital realms we live in and how little we understand their true boundaries (and honestly, we don’t have a fair chance to understand them)
I have weekly sessions with my therapist using Google Meet. Two weeks ago, we were talking about a subject that is an uncommon interest of mine, something I was exploring by talking it over with her. I had not researched it online, had not spoken to my family about it. There was a concept floating around in my head that I named, a very specific reference to a specific activity. Again, that activity is not something I have ever explored anywhere in any sense. Maybe I liked a post about it in Facebook 10 years ago, who knows. It was something I had heard about once or twice and there is a name for it that is very specific.
Later that same day as I was scrolling through SubStack, I encountered a post detailing a history of the practice and who coined the phrase. There is no way, no possible way that it was a mere coincidence.
The week before that, I was watching a YouTube reaction video that was showing clips from another video. A few days later, I was scrolling on Substack and began reading an article that had a YouTube video embedded. The article seemed really familiar. I went back to the original reaction video and sure enough, the Substack article was by the same guy from the clipped video. What in the what?? Again, simply not a coincidence. I actually had to marvel about how sophisticated the algorithm had to be to do that.
I don't remember giving Substack access to YouTube and Google Meet or vice versa. I don't recall giving Google the ability to listen in on legally protected conversations between my therapist and I and showing me content on a different app related to that conversation. Nonetheless, seeing that the average Terms of Service is longer than a set of old school Brittanica encyclopedias, I'm not the least bit surprised by it. So no, your data isn't safe.
I had to Google info about a prescription medication yesterday and only afterward realized how much data I willingly feed into Google products on a daily basis. These platforms truly know me better than I know myself. The worst part is, some of the things Im shown are genuinely useful even if there's a Twilight Zone vibe to how we get there. It's honestly frustrating that that should be the case. I mean, who are we that algorithms can know us so intimately but not actually care about us at all?
I think these are fascinating examples of the interconnected digital realms we live in and how little we understand their true boundaries (and honestly, we don’t have a fair chance to understand them)