# Okay, my new phone is freaking me the hell out. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 6, 2014, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-my-new-phone-is-freaking-me-the-hell-out/706514 "2014-12-06T18:27:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-my-new-phone-is-freaking-me-the-hell-out/706514/21 "2014-12-08T05:14:04Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > Turn off your Location and it’ll use less battery, potentially less data. I’m sorry, **Nawth** , but I’m afraid I can’t allow you to do that. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-my-new-phone-is-freaking-me-the-hell-out/706514/22 "2014-12-08T05:24:32Z")
Is there a “smart” phone which does NOT automatically calculate your position by GPS? Aside from reading my email and remembering every last thing I searched, this technology is pretty much already out of hand. Remember that shocking story of a young girl’s coming of age, circa 1960? I think it was like soleeka or something? Remember that one? - the title now means underage pr0n? Go ahead, google _ **that** _ name. Then check your phone: “Police will arrive in 11:00 minutes” ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-my-new-phone-is-freaking-me-the-hell-out/706514/23 "2014-12-08T14:34:11Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > :yikes: That is creepy. > > Maybe the guy Facebook stalked you? That would at least make sense. I suppose so, although based on what minuscule professional interaction with him that I’ve had, he doesn’t seem creepy or strange at all. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-my-new-phone-is-freaking-me-the-hell-out/706514/24 "2014-12-08T17:20:31Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > You can turn off Google pages, or whatever that feature is called. It won’t keep Google from knowing everything you do, but it will prevent them from shoving that fact in your face. 😉 > > Besides, when I had it on, all it ever told me was stuff I know. How long would it take me to drive home from the office right now – which I already know, and don’t plan to do in the middle of the day anyway. I gather that if you use gmail, it combs through your mail and can add useful stuff, like reminding you that you need to leave NOW if you want to get to the airport on time. Because it saw the confirmation email you got from US Air, and it remembered… But I don’t use gmail, and that is super creepy, so I don’t miss the feature. > > And yeah, you save a little bit of battery life by turning that stuff off. Yeah, I turned it off on mine because of battery life, but also because it didn’t tell me useful information. For anyone with an Android who’s been having these cards come up on your phone and you want to turn them off, go to the Google App, click on Settings, and turn Google Now off. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-my-new-phone-is-freaking-me-the-hell-out/706514/25 "2014-12-08T17:35:55Z")
“Impressively creepy” is the best way I can describe that myself. It was a novelty when it first happened to me, but now that I’m used to it I come to depend on it and it actually still gives me information that I didn’t know I needed. Did you know that a band I like had a new album out? Neither did I until google told me it was on sale last week. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-my-new-phone-is-freaking-me-the-hell-out/706514/26 "2014-12-08T18:56:57Z")
When I buy stuff online through ebay or Amazon, sometimes similar ads show up on my Facebook feed or on the side. Many times ads on random websites would have those as well. I just figured they know what pages I’m looking at and given up on that part of privacy. Its the new normal, the computer will know and share what you’ve been looking at ---
**Author:** ![Heropsychodreamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Heropsychodreamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heropsychodreamer)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-my-new-phone-is-freaking-me-the-hell-out/706514/27 "2014-12-08T19:30:55Z")
Creepy, but an incredibly cool feature on my droid which I now cannot live without. I have it set up to give me all sorts of useful info. My drive home can be 1 of three routes depending on traffic and the drive time can vary by 30 minues in worst cases, so my phone just tells me where to drive. It guess its creepy until you realize it is your phone and doing things to help you and nobody is actually monitoring me of course. My life is far too mundane for anybody to care where i go, what i do or what i might google for. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-my-new-phone-is-freaking-me-the-hell-out/706514/28 "2014-12-08T19:45:51Z")
Personally, I like the Google Snoop aspect. This summer I forgot where I’d parked to attend a concert. My phone knew and helped me find it. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-my-new-phone-is-freaking-me-the-hell-out/706514/29 "2014-12-08T20:16:31Z")
You can also have a bit of fun with targeted adverts as well. Start googling and “shopping” random things, for example McMaster Carr pulley wheels, wheelcarts for dogs, fetish outfits, trashy lingerie, and a new Porsche. Do a build and price on as much as you can. The ads you get can be quite amusing, I regularly get ones for leather boots from Zulily and cnc plasma cutters now. Highly entertaining in it’s own way. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-my-new-phone-is-freaking-me-the-hell-out/706514/30 "2014-12-08T20:25:33Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > …fetish outfits, trashy lingerie… You joke, but one time I was looking for corsets for a girl and I kept getting banners on my browser for sex shops, ballet stores (because…leggings?), and the like ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-my-new-phone-is-freaking-me-the-hell-out/706514/31 "2014-12-08T21:09:50Z")
I love Google Now, but, yeah, it can be a bit creepy. I went to my car to go to lunch not long ago, and I turned on my phone to listen to podcasts, and the card showed “10 Minutes to Chinese Buffet”. It was a place I go for lunch once a week or so. I’m surprised the card didn’t end with “you fat bastard”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-my-new-phone-is-freaking-me-the-hell-out/706514.md?page=1)