Forget the spy in the sky…

The story goes that when the Russians first launched Sputnik into orbit, there was a genuine fear that it was being used to listen in to the conversations – of not just the US government – but the everyday man in the street.

To give some context, the first Sputnik was launched in the year I was born, and now over 6 decades later, we’ve become used to there being a “spy” in our electronic devices.

Whether you use a desktop, laptop, tablet or phone, the stuff you look up, the stuff you write about in your emails, the blog posts you read and comment on… it’s all being monitored and filed away.

Ally recently talked about her frugal adaptation that resulted in her having a cost-free standing desk. I read the post, I clicked on the images of said frugal adaptation, and I commented about a friend’s purchase of a purpose-designed standing desk.

In the days that followed, my Meta feeds were being inundated with ads for standing desks…

For clarity, I have not looked up desks of any sort, nor mentioned them in my emails or messaging apps.

The first time I realised this was a reality which I couldn’t ignore was after an email exchange about a mutual friend who was mulling over whether to have an operation on a non-malignant growth in her brain. I think we can agree that’s not your everyday topic so, when I started to see advertisements for neurosurgery, I did a lot more than raise my eyebrows.

Naturally, I went down a rabbit hole of thinking, but it came down to deciding whether I wanted the convenience of these tools we now depend upon, or to put myself into purdah, or don a tinfoil hat? As I did, indeed, want that convenience, I moved my focus onto what I wrote about, what I read and what I looked up. And I decided that I could live with what could be gleaned from those activities as, I’m not in the habit of pretending to be anything other than who and what I am.

And yet I don’t have an Alexa – not because of all those stories of it listening in to conversations – but ‘cos that particular skillset is already covered by other methodologies (even if one of them is an old fashioned list! 😀 ). Lists work for me, so until we’re living in a Jetsons world where everything is computerised or robotic, I’ll stick with those old style methodologies for now.

But… if the day comes when we progress beyond the robot vacuum cleaner to one which cleans bathrooms, I may be quick to sign up 😉

Which of your current devices would you hate to lose (even if it is spying on you)? And what new device might you welcome?

© Debra Carey, 2024