I recently saw an online article with the intriguing headline, “Is it Normal to Talk to Yourself?” I’ve wondered about that. I don’t do it myself, of course. But I know people who do, so I clicked on the link. And according to the author, it’s perfectly normal to talk to yourself. That would be such a relief to me if I did it.    

But that’s not what I want to discuss today — because I don’t do it. I want to talk about what happened next. Later that day, a similar article appeared in my news feed. I opened it and the next day there were two more. Suddenly I felt like I was being watched. And listened to.

I should have known it would happen. You watch one cat video and your newsfeed is immediately flooded with them. You like one political post and your Facebook timeline is instantly loaded with similar ones. You click on one advertisement for adult-sized footie pajamas and you start getting ads for them every time you go online. Not that I clicked on one.

All that is minor compared to what happened to a friend of mine. Right after she mentioned a certain exotic travel destination to dinner guests she started seeing ads for attractions at that location in her news and social media feeds. She’s convinced her phone is listening to her conversations and I think she’s right. I’ve long suspected my phone eavesdrops. It’s a good thing I don’t talk to myself.

I’ve considered the possibility that I’m just being paranoid. In fact, I almost did an internet search on paranoia to check my symptoms but I was afraid I’d be inundated with articles about it in my newsfeed.

So instead I typed in the question, “How does technology know so much about me? Then I was inundated with articles about that. And I’ve read every one of them. Not really. But I have read enough to know that unless you’re living under a rock somewhere off the grid, big tech is collecting all sorts of information about you using sophisticated tracking technologies. That includes device fingerprinting, algorithms and pixels, none of which I understand, and cookies, which I thought I understood completely. Turns out, these are different cookies.

Cookie is an innocent-sounding name for files that websites we visit attach to our devices to track us. To a techno dummy like me, that sounds a lot like getting wads of gum stuck to my shoes everywhere I walk.

It’s another good reason to shop locally. Local retailers don’t put tracking devices on my car when I visit their business. Or gum on my shoes.

Fortunately there are ways to stop some of the spying. I did an internet search on the issue and now I’m getting articles on that every day too. I haven’t done much about it yet though because I’ve been busy and didn’t understand most of what I read. But I’m proud to say I did manage to delete some cookies. It wasn’t nearly as easy as eating them.

I realize that when big tech spies on us they’re just trying to be helpful — and get richer. And they are getting rich selling our data to advertisers. And we don’t even get a commission.

Still I admit that sometimes it’s helpful to have my technology know me so well. Sure I’m overwhelmed with information on topics and products I’ve shown an interest in. On the other hand, thanks to their knowledge of me and their targeted approach, I’m rarely subjected to information about products and topics I’m not at all interested in. I never see ads for snow globes or articles about sumo wrestling on my newsfeed. Wait! Did I say that out loud?

Dorothy Rosby is the author of Alexa’s a Spy and Other Things to Be Ticked off About, Humorous Essays on the Hassles of Our Time and other books. Contact her at www.dorothyrosby.com/contact.