Identity Theft

My “advertising identity” is actually stolen from my friends. Not intentionally, of course, but a combination of my own online life and the way computer algorithms work provides for a less-than-ideal result.

All but one of my hobbies is purely physical, which doesn’t give me much reason to spend the majority of my time on my phone or a computer. I honestly spend very little time online. The majority of my online time is spent on schoolwork, which as far as I can tell has little to no effect on what gets advertised to me. Although I’m not sure if anyone’s even running ads about statistics on Hamlet, these days.

The majority of my advertising identity comes from gifts. I’m huge on gift-giving on all appropriate occasions, or even just for the sake of it, but shopping for my friends is sometimes easier said than done. When I’m shopping for myself, I know exactly what stores to go to for what I want because I already buy them frequently. But when it comes to my friend’s interests, sometimes I don’t even know where to start. Where does one even buy Harry Styles merch besides the internet, anyway? The things my friends are interested in are never things I’m usually looking for in stores. I generally enter stores with a specific thing in mind and don’t usually browse outside of that. So, I’ve made a habit of turning to online stores. Online, I’m just one Google search away from what I need, which is easy, but at a cost. This is clear when Google takes those searches and uses them to decide what to show me in the future. Particularly noticeable after dozens of birthdays and Christmases and niche holidays, when the majority of the ads given to me are really meant for my friends. Scrolling through my phone as I write this, about 2 weeks after online shopping for my friend’s birthday, I am recommended the following; cute stickers, crystals, anime, cow plush, Harry Styles merch. None of those things are actually related to me and my actual identity, but it is apparently my advertising identity.

So, in a sense, I guess you can say I stole my friend’s collective identity online. I can’t say I particularly care for the amount of Harry Styles, cow, and dinosaur-related things I am recommended, given that my interests lie more in the realm of reading, board games, and art. I suppose it works out in a sense, giving me the opportunity to save the best of the recommended things for my later, gift-related shopping sprees.

“Identity Theft” by cafecredit is licensed under CC BY 2.0.