New Delhi, Jan. 28 -- A friend's daughter was due to have a baby in a couple of months. Her husband went online to research baby products-cribs, diapers, clothes, the works. Within hours, every website he visited began bombarding him with diaper ads. His phone knew he was about to become a father before some of his relatives did!

A few days ago, I ordered two books. Amazon's 'recommended for you' section seduced me with three more titles that seemed irresistible. I bought them all, then realized, I wouldn't finish reading them for at least the next four months. I could've easily purchased them later, but the moment had me.

We're not shopping anymore. We're being gamed and engineered. Every swipe, notification, and red badge is engineere...