You yell “cloud!” in my direction.

I listen.

then I regret listening. Same for "smart" or "we have an app" or "you have a choice about cookies" or...

We are drowning in this. I remember in the beginning, people pushed back. Now we don't even push back. We do anything (programmed?) to get past it.

A friend of mine told me she was watching TV (whatever that means)

Instead of an advertisement dialog with SKIP and a timer, she was offered "which ad do you like better A or B"

she didn't want to make a choice/give any information, and just sat through it all until it dismissed itself.

"I listen" has been weaponized and now you have to listen.

Very true and timely.