Let’s be honest: The internet without adblock is unusable. I really do not know how all those people without adblock are doing that.
I see people who put zero effort into ad-blocking in a similar light as people who don’t leave shitty partners. At some point they manage to convince themselves that it’s not a problem.
Don’t forget that most people don’t know that blocking ads is possible. To most people, their browser is on an appliance, like a washing machine or fridge. They know how to do the basics, but that’s about it.
So I’m not trying to be contrary… but who is using their browser on an appliance?! Certainly not ‘most people’?
I would agree that there is a general ignorance of adblockers but there’s no way most people are using browsers on appliances…
I believe he meant “people use their browser like they use an appliance” as in they don’t know any details about it, just open it and use it as is.
What? Nobody’s using their browser on an appliance (except for a handful of masochists with Samsung fridges). I said to most people their browser is on an appliance, as in they treat computers, phones, and laptops like appliances, in that they’re mysterious boxes that do a particular job.
Hardly anyone is trying to hack their appliances, and the majority of people just lump their computing devices into the same category - it does what it was designed for and nothing else
Haha, clearly a misunderstanding then… I think the ‘on an appliance’ part did it! In any case we seem to agree!
I have got a mental picture of a Linux super nerd trying to browse through a text only browser on their oven’s display now though 😁
A computer is an appliance. In the strictest sense of the word.
Just like I treat my car and for other that’s offensive because a car is a passion project. I can imagine the parallels.
Or who do so little cleaning at home that their appartment becomes almost unusable or outright dangerous to live in
Similar light? Go get some fresh air. It’s just a bunch of ads, the worst are avoidable if you don’t visit clickbait sites.
Found the person who needs to leave their partner.
rekt
Mainstream sites have been known to spread malware due to the lack of vetting process ads go through even on big ad networks.
But really, it’s just a bit of
a black eyemalware, you slipped andfell into a doorknobclicked it yourself, yourpartnerads didn’t do anything.All of them are avoidable if you block them.
No seriously though. Was using managers laptop very briefly, and needed to look up some instructions. No adblock, Google Chrome default browser, etc. The websites were almost unreadable. Giant video ads in top and bottom corners, big thick flashing distracting ads on all sides making the readable area a little bigger than a postage stamp. Genuinely how do people browse the Internet like this?
something something when all you know is the farm
Kinda reminds my of my 2010 Toshiba laptop touchpad. The pad was probably 2 inches wide and 1.6 inches tall, and it had special “quick zones” setup in each corner, and then scroll zones on the bottom and right side, and then “back” and “forward” zones at the top, and a window switch zone on the left. When you subtracted all the “reserved” space on the touchpad, the actual useable area was slightly larger than the top of my thumb… And gestures and tap to click was on by default. I don’t know who tested that and was like “yeah, that’s useable” but seriously, WTF dude.
well that’s why most people use apps instead. the real internet is so hostile without a guide.
especially now that you can’t use the mainstream browsers and do it. the barrier to entry has gotten so high that i don’t blame kids for being put off by computers and prefering their phones for everything. tiktok has annoying ass ads, but no apps are as bad as the average news website…
it reminds me of trying to learn about cars growing up. i didn’t learn about cars growing up. i tried, but everyone i tried to learn from spent the whole time complaining about all the anticonsumer practices that made cars shitty these days. all the hoops you have to jump through to work on them yourself anymore. how the manufactures went out of their way over the course of years to take what used to be a fun tinkerers hobby for the everyman and made it incredibly difficult and expensive to do yourself.
my take away was “I hate cars”. so when i hear teenagers these days say that they hate computers i get it. they fucking suck now and there’s this 8 foot fence of knowing how to make them suck less before they can even start wanting to learn about them. but it’s going to take them a very very long time to get good enough with the computer that they can accomplish anything on it better than on their phone. so we have trucks full of ladders that can scale that fence, and even if we lose our ladders we know how to scale that fence barehanded if we gotta. but the kids just walk around the fence because they don’t value what’s inside. why would they?
so I’m just waiting for the old pc based intent to slowly wither away as we age with it… places like this becoming out last bastions in a world that requires validated apps on phones.
Do people mostly use apps instead? I don’t really get that perception, but also everyone in my family basically hates tiktok, facebook, instagram, twitter and other social media sites on principle. My apps are basically 2FAs, email, chats, and tools, but the vast majority of my time on my phone is in Firefox.
Yes. As someone in High School my peers have no idea whats happening while using a computer and none of them hate that they need to install a bajillion apps for the dumbest stuff. They just do it and keep the apps, even if they legit use it once a year.
Basically none of them know what a folder is, that there are actual files inside their phone/computer. When I’m doing tech support I can’t say “open the files app/file explorer and go to x folder” I need to hold their hand through it all “take your mouse here on this icon, click on this, drag and drop this here…” and silently facepalm when they can’t drag and drop… Or I make them press keyboard shortcuts that does it for them. Many of them refer to any kind of sideloading/piracy as “installing an apk/installing as an apk” even on iPhones and computers.
I really really believe that mine and the following generations are substantially more tech illiterate than previous ones. Like of course they dont all need to be tech savvy but my dad or my 50 year old teachers know how to open folders or drag and drop and I can just say it as is to them and they will do it fine, maybe after a 2-3 second wait. Can’t do that to my peers. They exclusively know how to “use” phones to scroll the social medias, take photos, text and such.
lol. I’m 50 and I think my age cohort might be the most computer literate because we learned it the hard way from the ground up. What you’re saying is just sad to me.
yes, the vast majority of web traffic is phones using apps. no person that uses this platform is an average user.
even if your family hates tiktok it’s still massively popular.
especially among the youth who probably only have a really shitty locked down chromebook from their school and the recently developing world. in the global south most people never got a decent computer. they all got phones instead. once you’re on a phone everything pushes you towards apps.
It’s genuinely insufferable. I have plenty of ad block on my pc but little on my phone. When I’m doing stuff on my phone it’s sometimes impossible to navigate certain news sites or watch videos because of all the fucking ads.
If you have Android, you can install Firefox and use uBlock Origin there. It’s awesome :)
I use NextDNS for my phone (pihole in my house) as the service can block ads on any device. I think I pay $20/y for it, and that’s worth it to me.
There are a couple of VPNs with built-in DNS blocking for advertisements. Athena is a solution that uses your phone’s VPN functionality to route traffic served from known ad networks into a digital brick wall like Roadrunner baiting Wile E. Coyote into a painted tunnel.
Seconding Ad Guard and Firefox with uBlock origin, that’s what I use and I see minimal ads unless ad guard isn’t running
What browser/OS? There are many options on mobile, from extensions to system wide DNS blocking.
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Some sites, particularly ones that serve up questionable things like torrents or roms, are horrible without ad blockers.
I think people are using the world wide web less now and much differently. Most people don’t browse websites like going to ESPN.com or newgrounds or something. Problem use apps now and only a select few for that matter.
My wife can’t even find her safari browser in her iPhone which she’s glued to most of the day. For her is 90% email and 10% tiktok.
There is a web outside of chrome…
I wonder, is hatred of advertising a common thing for folks with ADHD? They take away something you are giving your attention to because it interests you, and shove some other crap in your face just to serve their own interests.
I remember being enraged at the scheduled commercial breaks in the '80s and '90s. The only benefit they had was that I always knew which segment of the show I was in and therefore roughly what time it was.
But now? It is so much damn worse and the normies just seem more OK with it than ever. I just remind myself they are living in a society that conditions them to accept it and gives them a thousand more serious things to worry about.
Edit: some words not have right letters
I hate it because it’s an unethical practice to manipulate or mislead and all modern advertising uses dark patterns to try to get you to overconsume.
The ADHD distress is just another side effect of all that
That’s me too, an effect of Justice Sensitivity, a common trait among both ADHD and autistic people. Before I knew that I was both, I used to tell people that I was allergic to advertising, to convey my feelings about it.
Dismissing righteousness as “justice sensitivity” is absolutely tragic to me. You’re right to feel that way, don’t change. The problem is with the system, not you. Applying a medical perspective is stigmatizing and self defeating. Your reaction is real, valid, and a far more sane response to these conditions than acceptance
“it is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a sick society”
I wasn’t trying to dismiss anything. Just pointing out that it’s a commonly observed trait in ADHD people. It’s a scientific perspective to notice that people with certain neurologies tend to exhibit certain behaviors more often than people with other neurologies. It’s not stigmatizing unless you are both generalizing and value judging.
It’s a dehumanizing perspective to categorize experience by “neurologies” and look for problems at an individual rather than systemic level. You don’t have “justice sensitivity”, you’re aware of overwhelming injustice. That’s a good thing. Act on it.
“Categorize experience”? That kinda sounds like that generalization I was talking about, which is not what this is here. It’s a simple matter of “people in this group have a higher likelihood of exhibiting this behavior than people of other groups”. Simple observation. It’s not saying that only people in this group exhibit it, or even that all people in this group exhibit it. Just that more do. It’s not even necessarily claiming direct causation. Maybe people in that group have experiences that make them more likely to exhibit that behavior, so that would make it environmental. But the cause is another discussion.
As for “look for problems at an individual rather than systemic level”, I’m afraid that I don’t know what you mean here. I wasn’t talking about any problems. Are you referring to the injustices themselves maybe? Because that’s a whole other discussion too. I’m talking about psychology, not politics or economics. (And while it’s not relevant, yes, I am acting on it, and far more systemically than most people.)
I didn’t mean to challenge or upset you and hope your day is going well. If you don’t know what I meant by that we’ve got quite a gap to cross and I’d rather just wish you the best and move on. I don’t like the ways that medical/psychological perspective shifts responsibility for social ills onto the individuals experiencing them and find an individual, political, or even economic (I guess) perspective far more liberating. Whatever you’re doing I hope you’re happy and it’s working for you. It’s hard to engage when you claim you aren’t generalizing while defining groupings though
I have wasted so much of my life watching adverts. I am absolutely over it and I get agitated if I watch them now. I cancel any streaming service that tries to force them on me and I am relying more and more on Plex/Jellyfin. I am not going to waste any more of my life watching marketing lies.
I genuinely believe most forms of advertising on the web are ableist because they try to make them as distracting as possible. Removing those ads is accessibility.
I don’t consider ads at the start and end of videos to be ableist, but they’re still annoying. Mid video ads, pause screen ads, and banner ads are all ableist.
Lol normies couldn’t care less about serious things, they are more worried about petty interpersonal nonsense, like how others perceive them and conspicuous consumption
Oh yeah agreed. Their role in the rat race makes up a significant part of their personal identity. That’s part of the design, to keep you focused on your consumption instead of your life.
I guess I should have referred to the noise as attention-grabbing things instead of serious things, lol.
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On the contrary, my eyes slide right off ads. They even did when I was a little kid.
Why should I care about something I’m not looking for? It’s just going to make whatever they’re advertising more expensive to buy.
Maybe that’s the autism side of AuADHD taking over, though.
I’m ADHD and I fucking hate ads. They screw up my attention and are just scummy. It doesn’t help that I’m constantly cognizant of the evils that are corporations.
The problem is malvertising and tracking. Despite Google’s best efforts, ads that deploy malware still exist, and so does ads that track what page/site you’re on to profile you.
The ad company hates ad blockers. Whoda thunk it? Also, don’t let web browser engines become a monoculture. We went through this shit with Internet Explorer. We know where this leads.
The biggest issue is that making a browser from scratch takes a lot of resources. It’s not cheap and takes a long time.
We essentially have Chrome and Firefox now. And Firefox is starting to enshitify.
We desperately need a third browser.
It’s happening, it’s just taking a little time.
Also, even though everyone is probably aware of it, Ladybird.
Even if they manage the compatibility, extensions are a big factor.
Bitwarden, adblock, sponsor block, multi account containers, libredirect… Without those, I don’t think I would adopt.
All of these are pretty “enthusiast/tinkerer” stuff. Some rando that doesnt use these also won’t be touching servo or ladybird basically ever. I think they would get adapted pretty fast for use among “us”.
Not to mention googles continued attempts to enforce standards that essentially amount to a whitelist to freeze out any possible competition.
We desperately need a third browser.
Safari?
Let’s be very clear here. Chrome ripped off the hard work from the KDE webkit people. That is also the reason much of it is open source, because open source and volunteer contributions made it live.
“Chrome?” People still using this shit?
Who the fuck is still using Chrome?!
Oh, you know. Just 3.6 billion fucking people (73% of web users). But definitely not you and me. I’ve been on Firefox since 1.0 (2004) and switched to Librewolf a few years ago when Mozilla lost it.
While we are making recommendations use IronFox for Android. Also, blah, blah, blah, Linux better, blah blah.
I’ve been using Fennec and it’s been pretty solid as a Firefox replacement. Librewolf on my home PC and Vivaldi on the work machine.
Absolutely. I’m also a faithful IronFox user on my GrapheneOS devices. We’re definitely preaching to the choir here, but I feel its always good to spread the good word. I tip my Fedora to you, good sir.
That counts android (which never had adblock as a plugin) and or chrome based (edge, brave)?
Is it?
I used vanilla Chrome with “Ublock lite” in someone else’s computer for a bit, and was shocked by how many ads got through, not to speak of annoyances and what I suspect was a malware link. We also got a related ad on TV soon after browsing for something.
I think Google’s having their cake and eating it. It blocks enough for users to feel like they’re getting Adblock, yet it’s not much skin off Google’s back.
Was the slider turned up all the way?
I dunno. Whatever the default was, so perhaps not?
But whatever Ublock Lite’s default is is probably what 99% of folks are using.
Over my cold, dead hands. Fuck you and your shitty worldview,
So weird that companies waste so much time trying to find ways to stop me from stopping them from wasting my time.
Maybe they should do a study in exactly where the ad revenue comes from. I strongly suspect that people who use ad blockers, and people who potentially generate revenue from ads, are two non-intersecting sets.
Honestly, if people successfully using adblockers were a worthwhile market, we’d have seen laws against adblockers years ago.
Better be. Also, fuck chrome.
I am honestly sad and sick of the sheer volume of ads, well, everywhere and in everything. Internet, tv, even in the real world you are bombarded by ads from every angle. Every time any free app or service gains traction, boom, there are ads now.
It is absolutely unavoidable, even when using adblock and similar services, and what is even worse is that this doesn’t even feel like marketing now, but just a coercion tactic to force you to subscribe to “premium”, because the ads do not really often feel like trying to sell you something but just annoy the hell out of you.
I am just so tired of it…
even in the real world you are bombarded by ads from every angle
I despise the digital billboards that now litter highways and roads that gets congested during rush hours. And especially at night when they just ignore brightness laws and blinding everyone and endangering drivers.
And gas station ads, especially ones on max volume. Obnoxious ads blaring so loud that even if you sit in your car you can still hear them.
Depending on the model of the pump, you can usually turn off the sound with one of the buttons on the right. The ones I have seen have four buttons on each side, and the second or third (or maybe bottom? I forget) button on the right will at least mute the ad. It’s worth a shot. It’s so obnoxious, it’s almost worth soaking it in gasoline.
I’m so glad all the pumps that do that shit around me have a very large ‘<- MUTE’ sticker next to that button. I’ve gotten in the habit of just mashing that button as the gas starts flowing so I don’t have to hear that bullshit.
I’ve been meaning to learn how to sabotage the pump to get the ads to not even play. It’s on the list of anarchist things to do.
Most gas stations have disabled the mute button at least in my area.
That’s when you disable the speakers, permanently
Digital billboards suck, but everyone using those obnoxious, bright-ass LED headlights is way worse.
I once slept in an apartment directly across the street from a broadway-sized LED billboard. It was a comparable experience to staring into those LED headlights. You could see it change >>through<< the blackout curtains.
Yeah, that’s pretty fucking bad. You ever watch Seinfeld? I imagine that was like the Kenny Rogers Roasters episode. 😂
I am honestly sad and sick of the sheer volume of ads, well, everywhere and in everything. Internet, tv, even in the real world you are bombarded by ads from every angle. Every time any free app or service gains traction, boom, there are ads now.
Capitalists: BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY
Me: With what money???
Literally though! This is literally the entire reason I got fed up with ads! What’s the point if I’m too poor to buy the junk they’re hawking?!
It doesn’t help their case that most mobile websites are just completely unusable with ads enabled. It’s impressive how shit they are sometimes
If you ever use the web without an adblocker you see why people have such a hard time with it and why apps took over. It’s almost entirely unusable except for some of the data farming social media sites (which also try to funnel you to their apps).
Didn’t even notice them trying. Pathetic.
I have:
-Brave as my browser
-Ublock Origin
-DNS-wide AdBlock
-Youtube sponser block
I barely see any ads now, except those that pop up as an overlay and nag you, and some of them can be block manaully.
