Advertising algorithms are often unpredictable, but sometimes they lead to amusing and unexpected journeys.

One young adult enjoyed messing with the algorithm by “liking” irrelevant YouTube ads. But when he continued to be served a series of targeted ads meant for parents, he ended up watching an imaginary child grow up right before his eyes.

You’ll want to read on for this one!

I spent 4 years watching my imaginary child grow up on youtube ads

When I was about 21, I was getting incredibly annoyed with my YouTube ads.

I had no money and wanted to make sure I saved what money I had.

So he tried to throw YouTube off his trail.

So I started liking YouTube ads that were completely irrelevant to me so I would never want to buy anything.

One day, this included ads for new parents—diaper ads, I think.

But naturally, the multi-billion dollar entity got the last laugh.

So I started getting baby ads all the time.

But now YouTube thought I had a kid.

Before long, he actually started to enjoy it in a way.

This progressed to ads aimed at parents with toddlers. Then eventually ads for parents with small children.

For about 4-5 years, I watched my imaginary child grow up. It was actually amusing.

Eventually, these ads mostly stopped, although I still get occasional ads for kids’ toys.

It’s a strange world we live in now.

What did Reddit think?

Sometimes it feels good to cause chaos.

There’s actually a way to look under the hood of the online advertising complex.

This story was oddly inspiring to one user.

Some people have decided they can’t tolerate ads of any kind.

No one likes ads, but at least this YouTube user got a kick out of this unexpected digital journey.

Who knew YouTube ads could be so entertaining?

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.