I Let A Smartphone App Manipulate Me

It happened again. My smartphone outsmarted me. The thing listens to everything I say. Suppose I tell my wife I am considering buying new tires for the car. In the next few hours, my homepage will be bombarded with advertisements for tires, custom wheels, and oil changes. If I don’t respond positively to those ads, I will start receiving ads for new cars.

If I search for the best price on pain relievers, my Facebook page will be filled with ads for both prescription and nonprescription drugs

It is understandable. You see, I took action. I told the internet I was interested in those products.

But recently all that changed. Even when I don’t ask, my phone outsmarts me. Today, I visited a local coffee shop. I use their smartphone app to order my drinks and snacks.

This morning my coffee routine found me hungrier than usual. As I queued in line for my turn to order, an urge came over me. A warm blueberry scone would surely satisfy my hunger.

I opened the restaurant app to place my order scrolling to find my scone on the online menu. But before I could order my scone, up popped a one-time offer on the screen. “Today only, order one sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit and receive a special reward bonus.” The suggested item was more expensive, but the bonus was too good to pass up. It was as if the app anticipated my desire and wanted to fulfill a secret hunger.

I quickly changed my order to accept the bonus offer.

When the egg biscuit product arrived it simply didn’t satisfy my craving. It wasn’t what I wanted. It seems the app simply didn’t want me to purchase the lower-cost scone.

But I was still jonesing for the sweet treat. I had no choice. I returned to the app and ordered the original blueberry scone I wanted earlier.

The app had tricked me into buying more than I wanted. But how did it know? I hadn’t told anyone or expressed my desire for food. The app somehow knew.

Being inquisitive I looked at my transaction history. Sure enough, in the last few weeks, I have been buying more and more expensive food items. Food I didn’t need or want. The app had coerced me into buying more than I wanted.

When I got home, I stepped onto the scale. As a result of overeating, I gained several pounds.

Now I am unsatisfied, broke, and overweight.

Today I downloaded a weight loss app. Now I have two apps to contend with.