Ask HN: Is it freqency illusion or is my phone listening? Can we test it?

[wtvanhest]

I have noticed on two occasions that we had a conversation and within 10 minutes, the phone displayed an ad about that conversation. Both ads could be explained by using a mosaic of other factors and just getting lucky that we just had the conversation. In neither case did I search for the topic recently, and in one case, never before:

1) A friend was over and he suggested looking at tungsten wedding rings. I had no interest in tungsten and just listened to him. Never searched. 10 minutes later, my now wife had an add for a tungsten wedding wring. On one hand, I'm sure FB can easily figure out that we were about to get married by our searches, but neither of us had looked at tungsten wedding rings.

2) Last night we were watching an episode of ballers and they mentioned Zika. We had a 2 minute convo about how that was a big deal 12 months ago.

I picked up my phone 5 minutes later and the first ad on Instagram is from the CDC about Zika.

Obviously it could have been listening, or it could have just triangulated the wedding date etc. and served the ad.

I'm curious if there is anyone out there researching this or who can definitively answer whether phones are listening or whether this is just frequency illusion?

[Jeremy1026]

Are these the first ads, or the first ads you've noticed? That is the first question that needs to be answered before diving down the rabbit hole. Odds are these ads have appeared before, but you didn't have it on your mind so you simply ignored them and never committed them to long term memory.

[wtvanhest → Jeremy1026]

It is the first time I have noticed either type of ad. I obviously cannot remember all ads.

[nibstwo]

I have noticed this too. I really hope that it is some kind of bias on my end and not the phone listening to serve ads. When trying to bait the phone it does not work though. Ie. having a fake conversation and then reviewing the subsequent ads.

[wtvanhest → nibstwo]

If they have figured out a way to listen, it is likely a single data point in a quant formula so you would need to be talking about something already close to your interests.

That is why I dont think baiting alone could prove it. But it doesnt mean it is really listening or not listening either.