Facebook is watching you..........

[JaneV2.0]

YouTube thinks I need a gun safe, I guess because I was watching kittens.

Scary business, bae.

[bae]

YouTube thinks I need a gun safe, I guess because I was watching kittens.

Scary business, bae.

I always keep our home firearms safely locked away in the vault, where the Evil Cat can't access them. It's only prudent.

[Ultralight]

Deus semper videt.

Deuce enter bidet.

[ToomuchStuff]

Here's a hair-raising experience I had last week:

I went to the next island over to meet up with a friend, a farmer, to attend a political kickoff event for a local candidate. The event was held in the 4H barn at the county fairgrounds.

After the event, I went with my friend to scope out possible competition for a product idea she had. It involved the purchase of a semi-pro-grade freeze-dry machine. We discussed the technical details in the car. Spent 10 minutes at the farmer's market looking for competition. Got back in the car, and drove onto the ferry.

At no time during the expedition did either of us use our telephones.

About an hour after I returned home, I popped open Facebook because my kid sent me a cat picture. There, in my Facebook stream, was a sponsored ad for a high-end bit of freeze-drying equipment. Something I myself haven't searched for. How weird is that? For the next day or so, it offered up ads for this sort of gear.

I don't have Facebook and/or Messenger installed on my bone-stock phone either.

My hypothesis is that both my friend and I had our phones *on*, Facebook deduced that we were together, noted we visited the fairgrounds (and perhaps even the 4H barn), were around about 40 other farmers for about an hour at the event there, and then visited the farmers' market. And that my friend either before the day, or when she returned home, must have done some investigation on freeze-drying gear. And so it deduced that I too must want such things.

A bit off-putting.

What is more creepy is apps that use the microphone to monitor things for keywords (does he have anything like that on his phone, when you were talking).

[Ultralight]

Idea: Delete your Facebook and get rid of your smart phone.

Queue the technology apologetics... now!

[LDAHL]

Idea: Delete your Facebook and get rid of your smart phone.

Queue the technology apologetics... now!

Fire bad!

[catherine]

Honestly, it makes me want to throw it all away. Buy an old-fashioned flip-phone and distribute my landline # to people.

The other day I was listening to my local talk radio and they mentioned that this is "No Screen Week" and so they were taking calls from people who have rejected technology--phones, iPads, laptops, etc. It was interesting to hear the experiences of the few people that called in and said that they had thrown away, or never had, the technology we depend on every day. One woman said she had thrown her Blackberry in a pond years ago and never looked back. She said she wants to live her life, not find it through social media and a dozen apps.

She has a point, but our devices are now practically grafted to us, at least psychically. When you can now use a phone to find your way, get the answers to any question in the universe, wake up, listen to your favorite authors, get the weather, play music, make a budget, track your exercise, order a hotel, get the nearest and cheapest parking garage, message your friends without having to bother them on the phone, find out what plants are in a garden by snapping their photo, pay your bills, video your kid's birthday, order anything made under the sun online, read books, record audio reminders, and even get support for prayer and meditation.... well, it's hard to give all that up.

But are we willing to pay the price?

[Ultralight]

Fire bad!

Right on time.

[Ultralight]

Fire bad!

I would call this something like a false equivalency. Just because you accept the form of technology we call the "campfire" does not mean you have to accept the form of technology called "neutron bombs."

I don't suggest we reject all technology, just the parts that make life worse.

And this is purely a philosophical discussion. Why?

Because I know that humankind will keep speeding toward ecocide despite me "stand(ing) athwart history, yelling stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it."

See what I did there, LDAHL?

[Alan]

See what I did there, LDAHL?

If you have to point it out, you're trying too hard.