The first time I thought about this, I had a much better description half written in my head. But, I didn't get here to post it until a few days later. So I've lost some of my train of thought. This is the best I could do today, with what I remember.

I've noticed, if I leave the TV (Smart TV) on after awhile it will ask if I'm still watching whatever it is. This isn't to save energy/ power. The power is still on. It is to make sure you are there to watch, or at least hear, the ads.

I've been wondering if anyone would notice if their Smart TV, or other screens, could do more than that. I think it could. Do you have one of those Alexa type things? I've tried to avoid them. If you can ask Alexa to turn down the lights, turn on the radio, and so on. It has to know several things and be connected to what you are doing and who you are. People have written/ talked about those digital home invaders, but have they thought about how far it could go? Now with AI too. I don't know how much AI can do but it is intended to mimic and predict people.

To some people this will sound silly, like a crackpot theory. When I think about it, mainly its just interesting.

Next time you have the Smart TV on, take note. Does it know when you stop watching TV? I have had the TV on and noticed that it sometimes stops working right at the time it breaks for ads - if I'm out of the room. It goes to that blank, black loading screen awhile and then says there is an error.

When I come back, if I do, it always runs several ads before restarting the show which it couldn't find before. Of course, it runs ads first. Advertising is the point of the whole thing for the businesses. But, does it lie (or whatever word you would use for digital/ virtual/ software that fibs).

I have no doubt the technology is there to keep track of what we watch and if we actually are watching at the time. Can it listen to what we do when we leave the room? Sure, it sounds like not much to think of, how many times you go for snacks, go to the bathroom, fall asleep. But, its all information about you. It can all be used to understand you, predict you, and scrape money out of you.

Kind of interesting. I'm not sure about the Smart TV tracking if I'm watching or not. It doesn't happen every time. It doesn't happen with every streaming service. I suspect some can't afford the extra software to make it work. Yet.

What I've been wondering about more since then, is what does the Smart TV do as far as subliminal messages. Banned in the 1970's (I think that was the right decade) I don't think anyone is watching for it now. Business controls government more now. As much as religion was once the big influencer. That does creep me out more. We look at so many screens now and there are no controls over what marketers can do. Not really. Not enough.

When your TV or other screen is in sleep mode and showing random images, screensavers, is that all that is there? It is a very useful marketing scheme, if it exists. The idea is not new. Can all this Smart technology not just watch you but also tell you what to think, what to believe, and of course, what to buy?

One more little technology/ marketing thing to consider.

I'm starting to get fed up with cookies, especially having those notices half filling my screen and no option to say NO/ deny them. Some sites do let you say no to cookies and then you can go on to see the site. Most do not. Why not, wasn't that the point of being asked? Otherwise why ask at all if the site is still sticking me with cookies I don't want?

The other thing, are sites that try to make me shut off my ad blocker. Yes, they want to make money, fine. But, how can I decide if I care enough to look at their site before I've seen any of it? They could give people an option to at least see the site before they stick me with a bunch of ads which most likely include cookies, tracking and whatever other junk.

Marketing continues to suck the life out of the Internet, like a parasite.

I posted this to the forums on the Curlie site. As someone who reviews, edits, and lists sites (a lot of them) the cookies and assorted marketing junk really get annoying, quickly. Before you think sites are not asking me to list them... you're wrong. I'm reviewing sites which have been submitted to the directory. I'm not usually looking for sites to list, out of the blue.

Also, last night I was thinking about advertising in general. I've written before that marketing and advertising preys on people, finding weaknesses to sell them stuff they likely could do without. Last night I went a bit farther down that idea.

Marketing and advertising finds ways to make us feel incompetent. "You can't do this without buying that." ... "You can't wash your car without buying this or that product because without it you will do a botch job". You get the idea, I hope. Marketing is training people to think they can not succeed at life on their own. It belittles people and softly bullies them. The whole thing about adulting as a verb is a marketing scheme. There is no reason you can't be an adult. Adults are not omnipotent beings. Why make people needy, unsatisfied, neurotic even unless you have the cure/ solution they need for 3 easy payments of $9.99 a month...

AI is set up to "help" us even more because we are just that incompetent. Why can't people make a cake, fix a toaster, etc, etc, etc, as they did twenty years ago? Of course they can. But, they are trained to believe they can not. Think about the ads you've seen lately. How many have told you (not in so many words) that you can't do something? Ads making men look like clumsy fools. Men are not, in general, clumsy or fools. Children are not uncontrollable wild animals and women are not idiot trolls trying to look like Barbie dolls, or whatever the marketing twists people into so it can sell us stuff.

How will people be living in another few generations? If you're not generating money somehow, in order to buy stuff, will people become a nuisance population? Like an out of control population of mice. Will we be herded up like cattle, as some science fiction has suggested? (Even that will dwindle down as supply and demand fall off). Will we be used as sort of living batteries to power the machines, the artificial intelligence? Our abundance of population will only be useful if we contribute to the economy and then... what if the consumer economy tanks?

What happens when there are not enough human consumers to support the industries, the businesses, and services geared to human beings? How much of what exists, only exists for some form of human consumption? Whether physical, mental, or emotional... so much of what marketing sells is based on having a human population with the money to support it. If things keep going as they are and humans become useless, how will that change everything? Quite a lot, I'd think. Hard to even imagine once you start to think about all the pieces falling out of place.

Life after humans... what would it really look like?

A site asks you to allow ads on their site, to make an exception with your ad blocker. Ok, I do. Usually because I like the site and use it often.

What is the very first ad you see? An ad for an ad blocker! Of course!

Is it some form of sarcasm?

After using the site, with ads, you quickly remember why you turned on your ad blocker. The ads take over the content. I either give up using the site, find an alternative, or some other workaround. Or turn the ad blocker back on so I can use the site.

I think people who ask you to make an exception and turn off your ad blocker never go into their own site and look at it with their own ad blocker turned off. It would be a shock for them to see how much the ads take over their site. Like trying to enjoy a garden taken over by massive invading weeds. Not the odd wildflower but aggressive weeds with thorns and prickles.

If you have a site and ask people to accept ads make sure you fully know what you are asking. You could be driving people away from your site, permanently.

Welcome to the Twilight Zone… where you pay for the advertising you view.

I found out something new when I phoned my ISP to complain about an $11 charge added to my bill for broadband use. I don’t download music. I avoid huge video files like YouTube. I do upload photos to Flickr and my blogs. I do window shop for open source and freeware programs. Until the last three months I was not paying extra for the broadband I used. That changed.

I am not uploading more photos than before. I’m not downloading more programs. What has changed are the flood of videos in blogs and most of all, the flood of ads using heavier files which take a long time to load even with my new PC and DSL connection. I am paying to see these files. I don’t want to see them and I very much don’t want to pay for them.

Why is it that each time we make the Internet faster we also make it slower? I wouldn’t say my connection running on DSL is really a lot faster than my old dial up connection ten years ago. In theory it should be much faster, light speed in comparison. It doesn’t seem to be that way. First, it was those HTML emails that slowed it down. Then the pop up ads which had to stop everything while they forced a new window open. Flash ads which often opened a new window and crashed your PC cause they couldn’t suck up bandwidth fast enough. Now, sites are running video ads which make you wait for them to load whether you like it or not. They slow your computer right down so you can’t even get it to move to another site or another page until the video has loaded.

Next month my broadband overflow is higher than $11, I asked when I changed my account. If I pay an extra $5 a month I have more broadband for the ads that want to suck it up. I’m still being screwed over. But, maybe it will cost me just a bit less each month. Thanks, yeah… thanks a lot!