Big Brother is Watching, But You Get to Choose!

Big Brother is Watching, But You Get to Choose…

Recently, I read this article in the Boston Globe about the use of cell phone technology in advertising:  The article describes how cell phone data is being collected to allow businesses to target ads to people who might be interested in their products. Basically, what this means is that if you love something - say Oreo cookies - and that somehow gets discovered - then suddenly, you will start seeing ads for Oreo cookies constantly popping up on you computer or laptop. While as a business owner, I can certainly understand the desirability of "targeted advertising", this just seemed to me to go too far. Think about it… you may think it’s great if you want to eat all those cookies, but what happens if you decide to go on a diet and give up those cookies? Now, you are fighting an uphill battle because you are constantly being reminded of those cookies every time you look at your screen. This just takes “impulse buying” to a whole new level.

I was quite disturbed by this article, and I wondered... is anyone else out there bothered by this? Is there anything that we, as consumers, can do about it? I have been pondering this question for the past few days, and have been surprised by how much it bothers me. Is it the loss of control? Is it the feeling of being manipulated?

Today, as I was taking a yoga class, my teacher, Phil Milgrom, had this to say, from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras:

“When your mind is busy, you don’t just watch it – you get lost in your mind. You forget that there is a “you,” different from your mind. Yoga gives you a space – inner space so that you can find your Self again.”

As I contemplated this, and thought about my upset of being bombarded by advertising, I saw a connection. When we are constantly flooded by a barrage of advertising, we get lost in it…we forget that there is an “us” in there capable of making decisions. And we grab at whatever is in front of us because it is easy and available.

It was good to be reminded of this in Yoga class and to realize that even off the mat, Yoga gives me a space – inner space - so that I can find my Self again and be freed from the desire to succumb to all those external forces. I may not be able to stop the ads from coming in, but I definitely have the power to decide how I am going to respond to them.