Legitimate question. Targeted ads feel obvious to many, but it is more about control.
Google knows more about you than your partner or you yourself know about you. And they know how to use that knowledge. The scariest part: this control over you is for sale.
Google controls how you use things. By being the defacto standard in so many things, they have the power to control how things look, feel and are beeing used. We are missing a lot of innovation because of that.
Google can basically decide, which business survives and which doesn't. It's not the one with the better product, it is the one which pays more money to Google. By that it helps to promote big companies, small businesses have a hard time to establish themselves. Even in my small citiy: if the new barber doesn't pay for Google placement and begs for useless 5-star-ratings, he won't survive.
It is hard to get out! You are getting lulled in with convenience and you unlearn how to use the internet outside of Google. Google takes prisoners and puts them in a plushy cell.
I think you’d be surprised at how much everything else is tracking you still.
You are absolutely right, I am surprised again and again. But I do my best to avoid it, if I find something that tracks me. And I am surprised that so many people let themselves being exploited, and even defend this exploitation.
Free yourself! It is work. But it is worth it. And it is not too late.