I have experienced it, and in my experience it was in no way possible for it to be confirmation bias. My wife and I sometimes do something weird where we just talk for hours. Crazy I know, but we bounce ideas off each other to an extent that we get into conversations about stuff we have never talked about nor ever searched for. Not even anything remotely close to related to things we search for.
We used to have and use a lot of Google home minis. Within hours we would see ads for the exact thing we were talking about. We would see ads for thing related to conversations we had within hours. We started getting hyper vigilant about it. We started randomly talking clearly and loudly about nonsense subjects and products that we have no sense to talk about and waiting to see how long it would take to see a suggested ad pushed to us by Google. It usually took less than 24 hours no matter what it was. This went on for months.
It became a running joke to us and I would walk into the room and say something like “I would love to buy a farberware brand vegetable peeler. There is nothing more that I would like than to purchase farberware brand appliances and homewares”. My wife would laugh, and usually before the end of the night I would have large targeted ads on my phone for farberware appliances.
Honestly since we stopped using the Google home minis (since they barely work with anything due to googles bullshit software support) it happens far far less.
Well I do have around 200 pictures of my butthole, and if I was held for ransom where those pictures were emailed to either of my grandfathers then I would pay a tidy sum to prevent it. Grandma, mom, dad, step-niece, I don’t care. But if my grandfather might see my butthole, I would happily pay $40m to keep him from seeing my bare back butthole and balls. I don’t want you all to get the wrong idea, I love Gramps, but he has seen enough of my butthole, and I want to stay in his will.
I’m not sure you read my comment correctly but that’s literally the same as most of the US…
In the US you have a couple months of theory courses which can be started at 15 years old, a set amount of driving time with an instructor, and then you get what we call a permit. Then before you can take your license test you have to drive 40 hours, 10 of which have to be at night with your permit. You can’t drive on your own with a permit and have have to drive with a licensed adult. You log your driving hours on an app, or on a piece of paper your licensed passenger has to sign after each drive. After you submit your hours and pass your test you’re given a provisional license for a year. You can’t have any driving infractions, drive past midnight or drive anyone in the vehicle unless they are also licensed or are immediate family, otherwise you lose your license for a year.
Only 13 states out of the 50 don’t have the same stipulations and restrictions, and most people still take driving courses in those states anyways.
I understand that being in Europe you might feel like your driving standards are a lot higher than in the US, but a lot of that is just due to movies and TV.