Sometimes, not having to consult before spending money isn’t such a good thing.

A couple of years ago, my dad affectionately bullied me into getting a two man inflatable kayak. The ex and I had been off a few adventure holidays which had included water adventures – one was a whole week white water in Slovenia. I spent most of it upside down. My husband nearly drowned. It was fun!

The husband and I did have a few voyages on the kayak, but it was big and difficult to dry before being packed and stowed. It also sat high on the water and was more affected by wind and a little more difficult to steer.

Obviously, I did my investigation for this kayak online. This was a couple of years ago.

Since then my Facebook feed keeps including adverts for kayaks. As does other applications that are supported by advertising.

They are also full of gate adverts, since I bought my gate online.

I must have been feeding the kayak adverts because every now and then I’d look at a boat in more detail, thinking that maybe a hard one person kayak would be a good idea.

Then one day (Monday this week to be exact) I saw an advert for a purple hard one person kayak in a sale. It was a bargain.

I didn’t think too hard about it. I didn’t consider how big it was. And as for storage I thought I could keep it in the back bedroom for now with all the other junk! Maybe it could go in the attic.

I didn’t think much about the money.

In the past I would have run any big purchase past my husband: we owned everything in common and made decisions together. Except I hated talking about money and neither of us really felt comfortable talking about it.

So without the friction of a relationship, I have spent money that I hadn’t planned to.

Then the washing machine broke on the Tuesday.

I popped something on before I nipped out lunchtime for some shopping; when I came back it was smoking!

It was already old. I had to use a dessert spoon to open them from, it had some blockage in one of the liquid trays, and it shook like an adolescent volcano.

I unplugged it as quick as I could, and when I opened the drum, the smoke was more intense and there was some real heat in there.

I wasn’t going to try to get this repaired.

Another unplanned expense.

But that’s not where I’m going here.

I’m thinking about the persistent advertising based on searches that I conducted in my browser (not even in Facebook).

And the more I interacted with that advertising the more that I was shown it.

The internet has become optimised to feed us more of what we look at. YouTube keeps suggesting music similar to videos I’ve already watched.

And that is how the internet is built now – and just as it puts pressure (sometimes neither gentle nor subtle) to buy stuff, it pushes more of the political and news items that you have previously engaged with.

Think about it, one friend sends you a link to a YouTube video. Let’s say it’s about kayaks. That’s safe. Next time you access YouTube you see a couple of kayak videos pushed your way. If you interact with any of them – even if it’s to hover over one of them for a few seconds – you’ll get more pushed your way. And the more you interact with them, the more you see.

They start popping up in your Facebook feed. In the advertising in your favourite online games. And they are from all kinds of kayak businesses all over the country (some of them overseas). The internet pushes the ones who pay for advertising – and these aren’t always the most reputable.

You find yourself thinking “why is the internet full of kayaks?”

It’s a similar principle with seeing lots of immigration posts, or anything else really.

A friend sends you a link to a news article about immigrants coming on small boats or being put up in hotels. The internet thinks that you are interested and pushes a few more such stories your way.

Some of these stories will be from a reputable source that is in some way answerable for the accuracy of its reporting. Many aren’t. Some are paid for by organisations interested in promoting a particular political viewpoint.

Before you know it, you are thinking that the internet is full of reports about immigration.

The algorithm doesn’t necessarily have to convince you that immigration is a problem. It merely has to keep showing you things about immigration because you’ve demonstrated that you’ll engage with them. Eventually the volume itself becomes evidence.

And the lesson is that just because you see a lot of stuff on the internet, doesn’t mean that a lot of stuff is happening.