High tech keeps changing. To me becoming more and more intrusive into our lives. Personally, I have never had allowed an Alexa in my home. And although we have a smart doorbell with surveillance cameras, all of our cameras are outside. There is nothing watching inside. To me that would be an invasion of privacy. We now know that sometimes the information that these devices listen to is saved. YUCK.
I do know that our smart phones can track us and know where we are. That does not bother me because I turned tracking off in my phone except when using certain apps. I even have my Siri turned off. But now my opinion about smart phones is changing. These devices know more than what we think!
My husband purchased a new car that arrived in late December. His new all electric Chevy Bolt replaces the Chevy Volt, hybrid plug-in, he drove for 11 years. His new car does not have a separate navigation system, instead it uses his IPhone for the guidance. To me this has become an eye-opening experience.
The first time I knew something different with the navigation is when I got into the car to go to a friend’s home. We go there once a week because I take a yoga class my friend teaches, while our husbands visit. But it was still surprising when my husband pointed out the map on the car’s screen. The map popped up with a route already highlighted to their home.
“Wow! Look at that,” my husband announced. “The car knows where we are going!” I was spooked. How would the car know! My husband edited his remarks. Well, it is my phone that knows because we go there once a week. He obviously has tracking turned on for his phone.
I understand the concept of continuous tracking. But still having the route already programed on the car’s navigation made my hair rise.
“What if you don’t plan to go there today? Then what do you do,” I asked. “Will the car let you change your destination? Or is the car and your phone in charge.”
We both laughed. But I was serious. Would the car let him change the destination. I don’t know because he did not try.
On another day, when I went with him to our weekly Weight Watchers meeting, there it was: the route to Weight Watchers was highlighted. Again, no big deal according to my husband. His phone knew he went there weekly. It still sent a little shiver through me. I do not want my phone to know where I go each day! I like having my own personal space that even my phone should not register.
However, now I am not so sure that this is even a joke or ok or even acceptable because of what happened this week. My husband and I made a condolence call/shiva visit to the home of someone we both really liked and care about. We had never been to his home before. After typing in the address, the navigation gave us great directions to his home. We paid our respects. Stayed for the service and then got back into the car to head home.
As I explained we have never been to that house before and rarely go to that side of town. Thus what happened next was just a little too spooky for me.
As we turned on to the main road that would take us the six miles to our home, the navigation system changed. Instead of the directions to take us home, it was now taking us to Cold Stone Creamery, my husband’s favorite ice cream store. The only problem was it wasn’t taking us to the Cold Stone Creamery near our home. No! It is directing us to a Cold Stone Creamery we had never been to before, but it was very close to where we were driving.
My husband was amazed. “Look at that! It wants us to go for an ice cream My phone knows I am upset and wants to cheer me up! There is a Cold Stone Creamery here!”
Wait. That is not okay. We did not type in Cold Stone Creamery. We did not ask Siri. We did not mention it. We were just heading home. And on its own volition, my husband’s phone put in a route to an ice cream store.
JUST WOW!
“So if the phone GPS wanted you to drive into a lake, would you do it?” was the thought that came into my mind.” But I did not say it. What I did say is, “Let’s go home. We really do not need ice cream.” (I was trying to keep to our WW plan.)
I was wrong. The thought was now in my husband’s mind. He needed ice cream. It would cheer him up after a sad moment paying his respects to the widow and family. We followed the navigation system and had a delicious treat before the car’s navigation posted the directions home.
I have been thinking about this experience for several days now, trying to understand what happened. I think I do now. My husband does go to Cold Stone Creamery at two other locations. I guess his phone would be aware of that. The Cold Stone Creamery his phone directed us to is right next door to the Apple Store, a store we have visited twice in the last year. Could that be why the phone changed the navigation? But then wouldn’t have wanted the Apple Store? Or perhaps my husband is eating more ice cream than I am aware of?
It doesn’t matter. I am still stunned into disbelief that after a shiva call the car and phone directed my husband to get ice cream, the one thing that would really cheer him up after a sad moment. Phones know us more than we are aware, and that is very spooky. A bit too Spooky for me.
zicharonot 