Imperfect

use ad blockers

The problem

As a counterpoint to how some ads subvert viewer expectations well, ads can be quite a nuisance.

In AI will make you a worse person, Hapax writes:

My wife and I have been watching Parks and Rec a lot lately. Every ad break it seems like one of Apple's ads for "Apple Intelligence" comes up.

It gets worse:

These ads consistently leave me with a bad taste in my mouth.

Crim's I'm starting to hate using YouTube mainly nitpicks YouTube's thumbnail interfaces, but starts:

Something about using YouTube these days just feels hostile. Ads seem to have been cranked to 11

Laura's I finally got a link to the scariest ad on YouTube starts:

This ad has been plaguing me on the PS5 YouTube app for what feels like an entire calendar year.

Laura comes swinging again in Dispelling a terrible thing that Grammarly wants you to believe with:

I have been served a LOT of ads for Grammarly recently. They enrage me!

Rodrigo starts off Selfishness in AI with:

In this Apple Intelligence ad, we see a dad getting some humble gifts from his two daughters, while mom’s in the kitchen, freaking out because she forgot hubby’s birthday and/or buying him a gift.

Solutions

What can be done about this?

In The hidden cost of ad tier streaming services, Jeppe writes:

I go to great lengths to limit the amount of exposure to advertising in my life, and that includes gladly paying for services to get rid of ads.

Another idea is to use free ad blockers and other softwares which circumvent ads. Privacy Guides presents well-maintained, beginner-friendly recommendations as good starting points, summarized below:

For desktop browsers, I suggest picking either Firefox or Brave from their recommendations.

For mobile browsers, they recommend Cromite for Android, Safari for iOS, or Brave for either.

If you already use these browsers or finished setting them up, install one of the recommended browser extensions per browser. Keep in mind that Brave has built-in ad blocking with its Shields feature.

Frontends allow social media and similar website or app use while blocking ads and adding privacy. You can find more options from places like LibRedirect, alternative-front-ends, and alternative-frontends.

DNS resolvers can come also in handy for computers, phones, and most importantly other devices. While public resolvers help filter content, self-hosted resolvers can circumvent controlled devices like the smart TVs and consoles mentioned above.

This should be more than enough to reclaim sanity and sovereignty over one's online user experience free of charge. If it's insufficient, try again later or find other resources that may work better.

This can be a journey you can skip rushing or going alone on. Pace yourself and get help from friends and others when needed. Maybe one day you can be in the position to help others block ads or improve their privacy overall.

Happy blocking!

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