Nepal, Aug. 5 -- About a year ago, I was burned out from classes, work and life in general. For nearly a month, I ignored everyone, friends and family included. I was too deep in my own head to care. One of those days, while mindlessly scrolling Instagram, an ad stopped me cold. A woman with apparent concern in her eyes calmly said, "Not picking up calls from your loved ones, not answering texts, staying in your room all day isn't normal, and it's not healthy." Of course, it ended with the usual 'buy our product' sales pitch. Suddenly, I started getting bombarded with similar ads.

I always thought these platforms used targeted ads based on my search history, my likes and what I watched. But I had neither googled nor had I watched reels o...