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.

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[–] ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world 81 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (4 children)

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[–] ciaocibai@lemmy.nz 6 points 2 years ago

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.

[–] CorrodedCranium@leminal.space 4 points 2 years ago

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.

[–] Scubus 2 points 2 years ago

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.

[–] _pete_@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

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.