Social Media: Is It Watching Us?

Written by Junior Vuong

Image credits: Junior Vuong

I know, I know It sounds like a tasteless sci-fi film that reeks of “off-brand Netflix”, but hear me out. I am sure you’ve all had that experience where you’re chatting to a friend, sitting with family, or just thinking to yourself, when you open your phone, and your thoughts are splashed out onto your notifications page. You think to yourself, “How did it know?”. You glance around uneasily, and spend 5 minutes of your lunch looking for hidden cameras and microphones. 

Is it possible that your phone is an evil little eavesdropper trying to drag out your screen time by showing you what you like?

Should we all start panicking and buying camera covers (and microphone covers, if those are a thing) Well, the answer is not as cut-and-dry as that. There are many factors that might result in “phone telepathy.”

Firstly, you might just be noticing things more. The Frequency Illusion

 (AKA the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon) is a psychological effect where you notice a thing more after the first time seeing it. For example, if you and your friend are talking about “bees”, you start to notice bee-related things more. Honey in your tea, a “bee friendly” poster on your fridge, etc. 

This gives the illusion that a thing is appearing more, when in reality, you’re just noticing it more. Sometimes, this can happen with your devices. You say that thing, and see it spread like a disease all over your For You Page. However, it’s always been there; you’ve just been noticing it more now.

Secondly, you might be falling into the trap of algorithms. Social Media apps track what you watch or view, and by recognizing common topics in your favorite videos, they give you more of the same thing. This is to increase time spent on the app, and to keep you hooked. So, if you happen to be talking about one of your interests, and open your phone, the algorithm might have prepared a video that matches your conversation exactly, simply because you liked one too many videos.

Finally, it is actually possible for some apps to be listening to you. For some social media apps, such as Tiktok, Instagram, Discord, and Youtube, can actually access your microphone under the right circumstances, meaning theoretically, they can listen to you whenever they want. However, this is only if you give them access to your microphone. You can turn microphone access on and off in your settings, in the “microphone” tab (for most phones.) However, it’s unlikely that these apps are actually using your microphone just to get more info on you. Almost all social media apps have reasons for why they need microphone access. Tiktok and Youtube need microphone access for when you record videos, Discord needs microphone access for voice chat, and Instagram needs microphone access for voice messages.

In conclusion, the idea that your phone is monitoring your every move is extremely far-fetched, and is most likely due to a mix of several reasons, such as the Frequency Illusion or algorithms. While it is true that some Social Media apps can listen to you, they have their reasons for why they need to. However, just because your phone listening to you is unlikely…

Does not mean it’s impossible.

Image credits: Junior Vuong