Back in 2020 I thought I was paranoid. I was in a Covid struck grocery store with no one nearby. I was quickly walking down the aisle when something in a jar caught my eye. I'd taken a step back to get a closer look and then carried on with my shopping.

I get home, browse FB, and there's an ad from a different grocery store for that same product that I never even knew existed before that day. I have never seen it again since.

Today I was in a store that sold a bunch of miscellaneous things. I stopped and read a funny name of one of the products (in my head) then carried on browsing the store. 5 minutes ago I was shown an ad for that company on Facebook. I'd never heard of them before and actually didn't even look at the company name when I was in the store. I only know it's the same company because I clicked the ad out of disbelief and found the same product with the funny name.

How does my phone know what I'm standing beside? The grocery store experience is especially weird because it was just a tiny jar and there were so many different products covering the shelves all around it.