Everything is Just a Little Too Connected For my Liking

So I did a Google search for a left-handed potato peeler. Okay maybe that wasn't it, but let's stipulate - it was a product. Not going to specify because this happens. All. The. Time. With. EVERYTHING. Still, a day later I got an email from Amazon giving me links to several left-handed peelers. 

Then I'm on Instagram a day after that and what do I see? Ads for, you guessed it, left-handed potato peelers! 

Is there anything we do online that isn't connected to everything else? Is our data mined by everyone for everything? It gets a bit creepy sometimes. Maybe I need to try a browser like Duck Duck Go and search for something obscure to see if the same thing happens. I'm beginning to think there is no way to get away from this crap.

So I am doing a test. I just did a search on Duck Duck Go. I am not even going to type the words here, of what I searched for. The only place I typed the words was in that browser. I will paste a pic because I don't think words can be mined from an image. But what do I know? (I only work in I.T.!)

If I don't get any emails or spontaneous ads for things related to this Duck Duck Go search, I may have to switch. Like most people, I don't have anything to hide - but it feels - icky - for lack of a better word, for the Internet to know everything I do online.

And for that matter, I think since I am working from home, I will unplug my pet-cam. Who knows who could be hacked into that?? This world just keeps getting weirder and weirder, I swear.

Did I just age myself - profoundly - by doing the search I did? Sigh-h-h...

You may think I'm crazy, but .. at least think.

You may have read some posts where I wrote about stopping at Walgreen's .. it's a frequent thing for me.
 Even though I moved a year ago, there is a Walgreen's right on my way home from work, quick to run in to pick up makeup remover towelettes, etc.  Recently they started a rewards program, ala grocery stores .. use your card, get discounts.  So of course I signed up.  Today - I gave the card back.  The clerk looked at me like I had 3 heads and when I asked if she knew of anyone who had done that she said no.  Her look was quizzical when I briefly explained.  She left the card on the counter after I had paid and wished her a good rest of the day.

We live in an age of information.  My job is all about - information.  Much of my free time is spent on the Internet and my smart phone.  Over-sharing here on my blog is one thing.  I get to pick what I share and what I do not and from now on I am going to choose more carefully what I share and with whom.  Like *Google - I use Bing now because I find Google to be too intrusive.  And because they got rid of iGoogle and Google Reader and made me mad, but that's a whole different issue.  With the NSA scandal and Obama care looming and the IRS being involved well - I'm not a conspiracy theorist by any stretch of the imagination.  But - I'm simply starting to feel uncomfortable about how much of my information is going to be available to different agencies and I've just decided I am not going to frivolously give that information away simply to save a bit of money.  It's not just Walgreen's - but Walgreen's does have access to information my grocery store does not.  Here is what I wrote to the store this evening:

I turned in my rewards card today.  I've always known that cards such as these track your purchases and that's fine.  But when you start mixing prescription tracking and health and fitness tracking - that's too much of my private information being tracked.  I have gone to Walgreen's for my prescription needs for well over 30 years.  I have never felt like my personal information was at risk until I realized that the information Walgreen's has - can all be tied together under the guise of cost savings.  I just don't think a pharmacy should be doing that.  If you want to save me money - have normal sales.

So, look at me funny like the clerk did, think I'm slipping off some crazy slope if you want.  I just think all of us should be more careful about the forms we fill out, and the information we supply to all kinds of places. Walgreen's is where I put my foot down.

*I am aware of the irony - this is a Google application, this blog.  And if I find something better to replace it with - you betcha I will.