My stepson's girlfriend, who is a special-ed kindergarten teacher, was over last night and talking to us in the living room about having to do some observational testing to continue her credentialing. Somewhere during that conversation there was a digression wherein I brought up an old song by the Barenaked Ladies because of some lyrics that pertained to the broader discussion.
Later, as I was perusing YouTube, a suggested video that popped up was the Barenaked Ladies song I had referenced. I did not even say the name of the song, but I said the band name and and some lyrics, and I did mention the approximate year the song came out. YouTube does not ever suggest that band or their songs to me, probably because I've never watched their videos on that platform.
Then a little later, one of the videos I was watching was interrupted by a commercial (which is normal).....for getting a degree to be an elementary school teacher.
This stuff happens a lot, I'm noticing.
I have a Firestick to make our dumb living room TV a smart-tv, and the Firestick remote has a microphone, so that when you press the button it will pick up voice commands. I know the Alexa's spy on people, but I never thought about the Firestick remote spying. But it's certainly possible.
I don't know if that's the culprit, or if my phone (or my wife's) is listening in on us. But something clearly is, and it's creepy and annoying. I'm mentioning this for the first time, but this has been a pattern I've noticed for a while.