Back in the days, oh no not days, let me correct it, back in the years, we used to search for what we needed instead of platforms showing us what we were interested in.

I still remember how I used to search on YouTube to get what I wanted, but now the search icon is just a fancy magnifier button that I rarely click on. Everything is already waiting for me right on the homepage.

This is just one example. If we consider Instagram, then it’s a completely different story. Instagram’s algorithm works in a way that makes us feel like we are being watched 24/7. The steps we take, the websites we visit, the messages we send to our friends, and sometimes I even feel like they are listening to us through our microphone as well.

Let me give you a real example regarding the microphone case. I know many of you may not agree with this, but here you go. I was talking with my friend over a phone call discussing that we needed to plan a trip to Kannur, Kerala, and we also discussed trips to a few other places as well. After I hung up the call, I went to a cafe, and when I opened Instagram on my phone, I suddenly saw a lot of travel and hotel-related ads on my feed. I was like, “What is this?”

Here’s another one. I was discussing sports shoes with my group of friends in a restaurant. All our phones were in our pockets. After dinner, we all went home and opened Instagram and yes, you are guessing right, we started seeing ads related to shoes.

Okay, now let’s discuss another thing. You visit an institutional website, an ecommerce website, or almost any kind of website these days, and the first thing you see is a popup about cookies. Most of us click on “Accept All” without even looking at the consent or privacy policy for a second, and many website owners take advantage of this. They share or sell user data to large advertising companies to serve highly targeted ads.

Now, being someone who works in the digital marketing field, I understand that this kind of tracking is very important for audience targeting and reach. But somewhere in my mind, a few questions still arise.

Are we all getting sold without even realizing it?

Where is our privacy?

Who are we actually supporting?

Honestly, I still miss those older years when I had to search for things myself. It made me use my brain instead of depending on an algorithm that decides what I should watch or consume.

Anyway, these are completely my personal opinions.

I’ll write one more article regarding everything I’ve understood about Instagram. Stay tuned.

Till then, stay strong and keep learning.

– Rocky