Why I blame Personalized Marketing for all that is wrong in the world today

DISCLAIMER: Of course, I don't blame Personalized Marketing for everything that is wrong in the world. That would be an outrageous claim by me, and an irrational belief on your part, but I really really really wanted you to read this.

PS: Marketing, I still love you and will always love you, but you're getting a little out of hand and I'm just doing my part in the intervention.

Does anyone else feel like our world is more divided than ever? Do you feel like people are a little more passionate (sometimes downright aggressive) about what they believe in or take interest in?

Personalized Marketing is a simple term for a sometimes complicated marketing strategy. In a nutshell, Personalized Marketing is an approach that analyzes our digital lives in order to feed the right message, to the right person, at the right time. This creates an individualized experience that is more likely to resonate with the consumer since they've already expressed interest somewhere within their digital lives.

What I mean by our "digital lives" is essentially everything we use the internet for. What do you buy online? What do you read? What do you 'like' on Facebook? Who do you follow on Instagram? Where do you work? What do you do for fun? The answers to all of these questions are left in the footprints you leave behind whenever you're online. These footprints give marketers the perfect road map to be able to relate to you and to cater to your interests.

Personalized Marketing is actually pretty great. It allows us to see and read what we actually want to see and read and we're rarely bothered by the things that don't interest us - until we are. You see, there are repercussions to catering to every consumer's interest and digital life experience. It does great things for sales and marketing (that pair of boots you looked at won't stop following you until you buy-buy-buy them!) and not-so-great things for unity, love and acceptance. (I may be going overboard here, but I'm trying to make a point)

At first, Personalized Marketing is great! The Yahoo home page you visit each day is always full of articles that you find relevant. You start to think, "hey, maybe EVERYONE is into slow cooker recipes, mental health policy, technology innovations and Novak Djokovic. Who DOESN'T love that guy? Maybe I'm a trendsetter!"

Then, you go onto Facebook and see some of your friends sharing things that interest you until, S M A C K. Someone offers their very different opinion than your own. They even post a link to an article that challenges everything you believe. This is where we can start to blame Personalized Marketing for how divided we seem to be.

You see, the internet is starting to work for us, which can be a great convenience, but it can also hinder us from discovering new information and new perspectives. Now, think about that on a grand scale. Think about all the people dwelling within their own interests day in and day out. It's only natural for your beliefs to become more and more a part of you and a part of your.....stubbornness. You're constantly surrounded by a giant internet hug of everything YOU like, but this approach can exclude other relevant news that you wouldn't mind reading about even if you haven't expressed interest in the topic within your digital life.

So, of course we're more divided than ever. Of course, it seems like people just say whatever they want online. Of course, this presidential election is whackadoo. The virtual world is only giving you what you want.

Here are a few things you can do combat being marketed to in this way although as long as you use the internet, it's going to happen:

• Clear your browser cache, cookies and history regularly.
• Clear all search within apps regularly.
• Log out of websites.
• After every software update on your smartphone, check your privacy settings. They typically change automatically with each update, so check to ensure your settings are where you want them to be.
• TALK TO PEOPLE. Talk to them in person and get to know their interests and beliefs and why they differ from your own.
• Please comment below if you have more suggestions!

So, Marketing, this is it. This is me doing my part in your intervention. I'm curious to see what happens to you in the future as more and more people are informed about your ways and demand better from you. For now, be responsible and make good choices.

Love,

One of your biggest fans