Are Our Smartphones Really Listening To Us?

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(Is Your Phone Listening To Your Conversations?, Jacques du Rand, 2021)

 

 Have you ever had an experience where you said “I need a new skirt” and then an app on your phone shows you skirt advertisements? It’s suspicious. It makes us wonder if our smartphones are really listening to us. Before I start in earnest, I want to talk about what “listening” means. On one hand, voice assistants like Siri or Google Assistant are programmed to respond when they hear words such as “Hey Siri” or “OK Google”. If we think about it this way then yes, smartphones are listening for specific words. On the other hand, many people believe that their phones are listening to their conversations and then use information from what they heard to choose what advertisements they show . Some surveys show a large number of users believe this. Then, what does the research say about whether our smartphones are listening in on us or not? Research shows that while it is technically possible for smartphones to eavesdrop, there is no specific proof that apps are secretly recording all our conversations to show us targeted advertisements. Experts say what is more likely going on is that companies collect various kinds of data such as location, search history, app usage, etc., which are then used to build algorithms that predict what you like. But this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t worry about it. Even if your phone isn’t listening to your conversations all the time, you can’t be sure that you aren’t giving your information to your smartphone. For example, when people install a new app, many users accept terms and permissions without reading them. 91% of people agree to terms and conditions without even reading them. And this “passive listening” through data collection still raises privacy concerns.

 

 To protect our information, it’s important to consider a couple of things and one of them is that when it feels like our phones could be listening we feel unpleasant about it. When you say one thing in a casual conversation and then see advertisements that are promoting it, it’s difficult for it to always be a coincidence. This may reflect how carefully apps and algorithms track our behavior. This can lead to changes in how we feel about privacy even if our phones are not literally recording our voice all the time. We might speak less freely assuming that someone is listening, or worry about what will happen to our data. Therefore, we shouldn’t just ask, “Is my phone listening?” but rather “How much of information am I giving companies through my data?” We are handing over a lot of information by using social media, voice assistants, and location services.

 

 So, if you don’t want your smartphone listening in on you, check your phone settings. What apps have permission to access your microphone or location? Do you really need them? Turn off permissions that seem unnecessary. Also, treat your phone like a public space-one that sometimes may not fully protect your privacy. In the future, I hope phones will provide clearer explanations of what data they collect, how they use it, and better controls for users. They should also make it easier for users to check provisions out. Because if the phone is not directly listening, many smartphone activities such as targeted advertisements are making us doubt they are looking into what we are doing.

 

 I don’t believe our phones are listening to every conversation we are having. But I do believe they are observing our behaviour more closely and precisely than we realize. And that means we should act as though we are being watched, because in effect we often are.

 

References

Shumailov, I., Simon, L., Yan, J., & Anderson, R. (2019, March 26). Hearing your touch: A new acoustic side channel on smartphones. arXiv.org. https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.11137

 

Fowler, B. (2019). Is your smartphone secretly listening to you?. Consumer Reports. https://www.consumerreports.org/smartphones/is-your-smartphone-secretly-listening-to-you/

 

Deloitte. (n.d.). Is your phone listening to your conversations?. Deloitte Insights. https://www.deloittedigital.com/mt/en/insights/perspective/Is-your-phone-listening-to-your-conversations.html

 

Segijn, C. M., Strycharz, J., Turner, A., & Opree, S. J. (2025). “My phone must be listening!”: Peoples’ surveillance beliefs around devices “listening” to offline conversations in the US, The Netherlands, and Poland. Big Data &amp; Society, 12(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517251337102

 

By Staff Reporter Jang Seojin (1-4)