I use ad blockers and open source privacy focused software whenever I can but occasionally I have to use computers that don’t belong to me or an older phone where my usual applications aren’t installed and seeing all the advertisements just feels dirty and dystopian.
I think the worst ads are the text to speech ones that say “Download this app today”. The unblinking energenic people saying you can make a living at home are probably a close second.
I want to be there. I browse strictly on mobile I dont have a computer and I haven’t seen to be able to get anything to work properly the few times I tried. It’s so much worse on mobile cuz I’m so likely to accidentally tap the ad and they usually take up the whole screen and maybe 3 or 4 lines of am article before another ad. Plus one on top and bottom of the browser that is always there, plus a pop-up video auto playing in the corner.
Set your private DNS to something like
dns.adguard.com, it’s a game changer!If you’re on Android, Firefox have ad block addon, and for YouTube you have revanced
for mobile if you have android try rethink dns 👀
For mobile I would say adding blocklists in the router.
Only time I ever see actual ads anymore are when I’m out and about and see billboards, when my parents are watching TV, or when I go to furaffinity on TOR for some NSFW images.
I’m fine with the ads on FA since they’re at the top and bottom of the pages and not intrusive at all and aren’t really much more than ads for probably shitty games (minus the Brok the Investigator ads) and art commission services the vast majority of the time.
FA as in… Fur Affinity?
Yes. As in furaffinity.
Every once in a while I find myself looking at the Internet without ad blockers. Like, newly-installing a browser on a newly-installed OS, or trialing a new browser on my phone or whatnot. And when it happens it’s a massive shock to me just how unusable the modern Internet is without an ad blocker.
If I were forced somehow to not use an ad blocker, I would probably stop using the WWW portion of the Internet and likely grossly cut down on other facets of the Internet.
I think the worst ads are the text to speech ones that say “Download this app today”.
Dear god, they read themselves to you now?!? Kill it with fire!!
I want the creator drawn and quartered.
I remember the times I’d go from watching Tivo to trying to watch live TV.
I use a VPN which has an excellent ad & bs blocker. But occasionally some sites need me to turn it off to pay for things or whatever and I forget to turn it back on and end up browsing the internet in its normal state.
And wow… welcome to commerce central. It’s not that all the ads are obnoxious though some are, but the quantity of them is out of control on some websites.
To be fair, I’ve found it’s a good rule of thumb that the quality of a website is usually proportionate to the less amount of ads they have.
I also reviewed mobile games for a while and had to play without a VPN to get the same experience most players would get - game ads are the worst. Unrepresentative of the games they’re trying to sell, but also often sexist (veering towards misogynistic), obnoxious and with false endings.
Level 99 mafia boss checking in 😎
proportionate to the less amount
“inversely proportionate”
Which VPN?
I use Surfshark but I expect most of the quality ones offer something similar. Nord and Express often get mentioned as the best VPNs but Surfshark as the best cheap VPN - I’m impressed with it, would recommend. You can even use Chrome on Android and most sites seem like normal, though I’ve switched to Firefox anyway
(If you are thinking of using a VPN just don’t use a free one because they’re probably dodgy)
It IS perverse. You’re having your eyes groped by strangers, all trying to get you to do what you have no desire to do. You just want to get what you came for and leave, but no, everywhere you look something is trying to block your path and distract you from your goal. And it’s not even honest: you already know that none of these extraneous, unwanted come-ons you’re seeing is anything close to true. In some cases, it’s a full-on mental assault.
It’s vile. I used to leave some on, but now there’s not even such a thing as “acceptable ads” anymore just because of the sheer numbers involved. So now I don’t just block: I go full extermination mode. I’m usually on desktop so if it’s a one time thing, like a single ad on YouTube that managed to sneak by all of my walls and filters and I can’t just pass it by because it’s stuck in my field of vision, I’ll actually do an “inspect element” and delete it on the spot. But otherwise, if I can’t block 100% or very close to it, I find a different site or source, or shut down altogether.
I genuinely don’t think our minds were made for this level of constant information onslaught and never-ending manipulation campaigns, and I don’t think it’s healthy or life-affirming to subject oneself to it without limit. So I don’t. People get angry about it, but hey, more for them to enjoy if that’s how they wanna roll.
It IS perverse. You’re having your eyes groped by strangers, all trying to get you to do what you have no desire to do. You just want to get what you came for and leave, but no, everywhere you look something is trying to block your path and distract you from your goal. And it’s not even honest: you already know that none of these extraneous, unwanted come-ons you’re seeing is anything close to true. In some cases, it’s a full-on mental assault.
You paint an image in my head of a guy stopping you on the street to sell you a knock off Rolex.
I had a 16+ year old Reddit account, but was shocked when the whole 3rd party app situation was going down to learn that patently Reddit had ads. Between pihole and browser ad blockers even when I used the web version I never saw them. Don’t think I was missing anything.
This is the thing that got me.
I never used to mind ads that much, yea they were there but the sites had to earn money somehow and advertising was a fair way for them to do it. I’m not going to pay a subscription for every site that I want to visit.
Then one time I was looking at jeans on GAP and was bombarded for the next 3 weeks with ads for them on basically every damn site I visited.
I don’t hate ads that don’t track me about and are obnoxious in their presence, but that just doesn’t exist anymore.
And to ensure I don’t accidently use their site again, I grab it’s most background element and block it, hence effectively blocking the site as a whole.
I set up a pihole and installed revanced on my mom’s phone. She was surprised when I mentioned that YouTube has ads once haha.
Same, it’s so weird seeing normal TV or using the internet without blockers. Feels like living in Idiocracy.
One of my most used sites has a banner that says “Sign up for a small fee to remove the ads.”
I was a confused for a second, because I had never seen one.
Tried the site with another browser with my default protection off and holy shit, so many ads. The webpage is mostly unusable because of the shear number.
I got onto the YouTube vanced train back in 2018 and every now and then I hop on desktop YouTube and it’s soo jaring.
Ublock origin made it so I never see an ad on YouTube
I’ve wondered how businesses advertise anymore because I never see advertisements. I don’t watch TV. I don’t listen to radio. I have ad blockers on my devices. I just assumed most people used as blockers too.
there’s always the boomers who can’t do it/don’t know it’s even possible and others that know nothing about computers that they can prey on
It ain’t just boomers bro
I did say others :P
I know more zoomers who don’t bother blocking ads than boomers who don’t.
Like by a LARGE amount.
Entire generations have been conditioned to accept ads due to the iPad, especially on YouTube.
Paid sponsorships mostly, since sponsorblock can’t do anything without anyone marking a segment as an ad, you will see it in a video eventually.
I feel you, I’ve been using an ad blocker for so long I’ve lost count of the years. I’m always obliterated by how vapid and meaningless modern ads are, its all psychological hacking which is a violation of our mental sovereignty.
I also feel like the “happy young people, living their best life with our product” style ads help keep people delusional about the current state of the world and where we are heading. Like that “Everything is fine” meme, but the dog has a vr headset on and sound cancelling headphones that constantly chant “The heat you are feeling is good for the economy. Everything IS fine!”.
I agree, it is 100% dystopian.
They Live called it in 1988!I just recently watched that movie for the first time a month or so ago, and it was so jarring how accurate it was with the subliminal messaging
Does anyone have recommendations on how to block ads on Android without rooting? I’ve tried AdAway but it doesn’t seem to be terribly effective. I’m pretty tied into Chrome and would prefer not to change browsers but I understand I might have to.
Try adguard. Its a system wide blocker(blocks ads in most apps too) and needs no root. Its paid. For free you can use blockada version 5. Get it on fdroid. Or just use adguard dns.
Not what you wish to hear, but for web browsing, use Firefox. The Android version still supports plugin like uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger. Ad blockers are effectively dead in Chrome with the advent of manifest v3.
Firefox accounts work very much like your Google account in chrome, so it was relatively straightforward to migrate. Just install firefox on your desktop, get your Mozilla account set up, and use the desktop tools to migrate from chrome to firefox. Then once it’s good on your desktop, install firefox on your android devices and sign in to your Mozilla account, everything should sync.
Passwords I’d recommend not using any browser solution and instead use something like bitwarden.
Breaking the Google chains are tedious but doable!
If you really feel lazy, I’d still go with Firefox password manager over chrome.
When not rooted I have two main free solutions.
You can use nextdns on your home network. They have around 200,000k free requests. For 2 people it seems to work out to around 20 days of ad blocks. This particularly helps with the ads on the TV as well.
Otherwise you have the options to use Firefox with extensions or Brave without (I know it’s not popular around here). You can also use ReVanced for youtube blocks.
For most usage that free combination suffices for me.
You’re pretty much gonna have to switch browsers. There are other options, but they don’t work as well as uBlock Origin. The best alternative to that is a VPN that blocks ads, like Proton. But they aren’t as good at blocking. They will, however, remove most ads, and from other apps as well.
Change your dsn to dns.adguard.com
Edit: Firefox on Android has unlocked origin as well nowadays
Or if you can afford it, subscribe to a private DNS provider, they offer more control.
Firefox with uBlock origin, setting your DNS to “DNS.adguard.com”, and using ReVanced with MicroG for YouTube has worked best for me on a non-rooted phone.
My husband refuses to use ad blockers for some unknown reason (I installed them on his computer, he won’t fucking use them/turns them off) and also is the person who gets the cookie settings menu and clicks “accepts all” every time. I get so stressed trying to use his computer but also like dude! Have you any idea just what you are allowing them to access??? Granted, I’m somewhat ignorant when it comes to how to be completely safe and private on the internet, but I try, and to see someone just blatantly not care makes me lose my cool a little.
My condolences on the divorce
What? What ads?
