The more irrelevant the advertising I see, the happier I am about my digital footprint.
Plus, it’s funny to me when “the algorithm” tries to sell a moist, pasty red-head lotion and hair relaxer because I matched into that demographic somewhere along the line.
I’ve never seen a targeted ad. It’s very rare that I see any ads at all. Ublock Origin does a very good job of getting rid of them.
Agreed.
I’m really surprised to see so many people talking about ads. The only ones I see are the non-digital ones in the metro.
A coworker was showing me something in his phone and I was amazed, how clutered it was with all these ads. I don’t know how people can cope with today’s internet without an adblocker
Why are people normalizing targeted ads, let alone being impartial to ads at all?
I’m seeing this the other way around. It’s possible the normalization is incidental: the comic exists because it’s a common interaction these days.
At the same time, the comic is from the New Yorker. Magazines have a different attitude about advertising in general, so (IMO) this is as anti-ad as a magazine comic can get away with.
There can be good targeted ads eg. For locus businesses. But usually they are not that.
When I did have Instagram I did really like that it told me about local events, the downside that I had to scroll reels to get them. All those events listing websites don’t have the type of events I want to see. So there’s no places I know about them unless it’s from Instagram.
the cork board at the good coffee shop has filled that niche for me pretty well
Oh yeah, I like that.
It’s the targeting itself that is bad. Very, very bad. It’s a blueprint for mind control and singling out opposition. In the current political climate, this spells bloody trouble.
Elections are far out and this ain’t America. Also if the radio would be able to do it so should online ads. That’s the line, though.
If I am looking to buy a product or service that serves a specific need, then I would rather be able to use a search engine to find it.
Ads have more than 1 purpose. Eg. Creating awareness a new restaurant opened in your area.
I haven’t seen an ad in ages.
I was gonna say: I have no idea what this is like.
I’m simultaneously living my best life, (mostly) ad free, and at once unaware of how the rest of the world navigates an ad-encrusted digital space.
You guys are seeing ads? I barely use my phone and on my PC I use Firefox with ublock origin. It’s simple really.
fennec with ublock origin works wonders on the phone too.
Or just the default Firefox app, which supports extensions.
Yeah, seriously. This whole “Firefox on mobile doesn’t support adblock/extensions” sentinent is very stubborn, yet I’ve been using them for multiple years without fail at this point.
I got advertised bras the other day when I was forced to see ads for the first time in years
Considering I don’t use bras, that’s probably a good sign
Maybe it predicted your future man boobs.
I don’t see ads
UBlock Origin and NoScript are both very useful
I like to imagine the life of the person ads think I am. I get ads in Spanish, I get medication ads for illnesses I do not have, and sometimes literally cannot have,I get ads for high end lab equipment. By far my favorite was an ad for deep sea oil rig sand traps, why would that ad even be made, and why send it to a 50 year old man in a landlocked state who is watching minecraft lets plays and pink pony club covers.
“Deep sea oil rig sand trap” sounds like an underground rock band song title.
Yeah the ad made me research it,apparently the oil has a bunch of solids/sand in it that is caught by the trap before further processing. So I did learn a thing, but I’m not buying an oil rig.
lol why the hell even is an oil rig sand trap?
I love VPNs for this … I get to see advertising from around the world … Japanese noodles, Nordic furniture, some weird German food, Turkish real estate, Australian drinks … and all of it delivered in languages I don’t understand.
I do sometimes wonder what the ads say but like you I can’t be bothered to learn Australian.
It’s not hard … you just turn the monitor upside down and you can translate everything.
You don’t even have to do that to get served foreign ads. If you search on country specific search sites long enough, it’ll eventually bleed over to your native feed.
I don’t get ads. I am nothing.
Love that for you.
I live an ad-free life since about 2010. But I do wonder what it’s like to see targeted ads.
I am avoiding nearly all ads.
Not me, opted out of everything I can that would target me and with the VPN I use it just randomly picks locations and servers
I absolutely love getting ads in random languages I don’t even speak
I can’t even read the ads so It’s like an extra layer of protection from their marketing due to my own ignorance
i’ve been having to translate the TV ads for my wife since they show up in a language i know but she doesn’t. it’s kinda fun since she used to be a certified interpreter (well, i guess the cert hasn’t expired so still is?)
Use ad blocking DNS.
Use VPN.
Never accept all cookies, just the bare minimum.
Use browser extensions to block trackers.
Use security and privacy focused browsers.
I can’t remember the last time I saw ads, let alone targeted.
Never accept all cookies, just the bare minimum.
“Necessary” cookies should have to be able to be rejected
Temporary Containers extension fixes this (I use its continuation fork, Temporary Containers Plus, since the original has not been updated in 5 years because the author is dead), all new tabs with no container are changed to a temporary container that is deleted after a configurable time without any tabs in it
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