I’ve recently been amused (terrified?) by one of the strange phenomena of this day and age: though our friends and family members don’t know the name we’ve picked for our daughter, the Internet sure seems to!
My iPhone suggests her name every time I type the first two letters. Google’s search bar suggests it after just one letter. Facebook and Instagram ads show me nursery decor featuring her name and its meaning. I shouldn’t be surprised - I’ve certainly spent some solid online time exploring the name and its history - but it’s still pretty funny how we can keep a secret from our loved ones better than we can from our tech companies. My only worry is that someone will be looking over my shoulder the next time one of these ads pop up, or that I’ll text the name by accident because of iPhone autocorrect!
Has this happened to anyone else? Or has my online name-loving behavior left behind unusually deep tracks?
Similar story: I was currently obsessed with biblical names and [name_m]Kenneth[/name_m]. So that had clogged my search up, despite browsing on Safari private mode. I was searching up a name question, very unrelated (The popularity of [name_f]Caitlin[/name_f], I think). A suggestion was "Is [name_m]Kenneth[/name_m] a biblical name? I actually nearly dropped my iPad on the floor (This is what I have a survivor iPad case for). It gave me a shock. So I then proceeded to change my browser settings to make it even more private, never had an incident since.
Sometimes when I type my favorite names into my iPad, the middle suggestion will be my pick for a middle name. I tested it once to see which of my favorite combos it will suggest. I find it more amusing than concerning tbh.
That’s just the power of algorithms! It can get a little creepy… I have seen ads to things I only mentioned to friends in conversations and gotten suggestions to watch videos on subjects I’d only thought about… but those are the moments I have to remind myself how algorithms work! With the amounts of data out there this days and the amount of activity we have online, it’s amazing how precisely search engines like google or websites like youtube can guess about what you like or is on your mind… I’m studying computer science and it still blows my mind!
It’s funny, isn’t it! I think if you clear your history more frequently, you might solve the ad problem if someone looks over your shoulder… but you’ll just have to be careful with auto correct! [name_f]Every[/name_f] time I type my son’s name, it suggests his middle name next!