Okay, this isn't spiritual or controversial. It isn't biblical or religious in the least. I'm not going to explain to you what "this" Scripture means so you can say, "Oh, look at that!" or "No, it doesn't" (without explaining further why it doesn't or why it means something different). I'm not going to explain (again) why there is no such thing as "marriage" for same-sex couples or why we're abusing the language. This is completely off topic for me ... in just about every way possible. Just to be clear up front.
Let me explain this from an example. I work in a highly technical environment (biolabs, cutting-edge electronic design, software development, advanced research, etc.). So my boss comes to me and says, "Hey, we might be able to use this device" (say, a $14,000 FLIR camera, for instance) "in a project we're working on. Can you look into it?" And being the good worker I try to be, I jump right in. I search the internet, contact the company, find out all the particulars, and report back to my boss. Job well done.
Then I go back to my regular work and go to look up something else ... and there are ads popping up everywhere telling me about this FLIR camera and others. "Maybe you'd want to go look. Maybe you'd like to buy some. How about it, man?" Over and over and over. On sidebars and in the middle of scientific articles I'm reading and ... everywhere. "Let's see ... click on 'stop showing this ad.' That should stop it." Of course it doesn't. By "We'll try to stop showing you this ad" they mean "We'll double down and show it more." "Oh," they say (not actually say, just do), "by the way, we're linking your work account to your home accounts, so you'll be seeing these ads there, too. Good luck with that."
What's up with this? Why do we need or want this invasion -- invasion of privacy, invasion of access, invasion of work? I'll be in the middle of reading an assigned webpage and a full-screen ad for the thing I never wanted will pop up with a highly obscure way to close it, preventing me from doing what I'm supposed to do thanks to this invasive technology we classify as a "work saver." It's not like junk mail. "Oh, look at that, I can tell it's nothing I'll need. I'll throw it away without even opening it." It's not like billboards. "Just keep your eyes on the road." It's in your face, relentless, inevitable, unstoppable.
I want a way to stop this invasion, but I'm pretty sure the internet won't allow it. I already have a hard time with the "miracle of the internet" where it used to be supposed that you can find out about just about anything you want with a click of a button. Now I can find out just about anywhere I can buy something vaguely related to the thing I'm trying to find out about, but finding information? Not always so easy. But you can hardly do business anymore without this intrusive system built almost entirely on trying to take money out of my wallet ... for things I don't want. So, no, I don't expect a way to stop this.
Thus, the rant.
9 comments:
Maybe you need the a browser like brave https://brave.com/ ( Some side reading https://captainaltcoin.com/brave-browser-vs-mozilla-firefox/)
or install Ublock Origin https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock onto an existing browser
consider some of the products from https://www.privacytools.io/browsers/
and update your DNS to use quad9 https://www.quad9.net/
Then clean your device to get rid of the cookies and history https://privazer.com/en/
I hate that. You know what else I hate? You get an email for something that sounds like a possibility for you, so you open it up. What you get is a video, the duration of which you have no idea, because there's no way to tell how long it is. It goes on with backstories that you have no desire to hear, because you really just want it to get to the point, which it never does in a way that makes you glad you suffered what came before. Sometimes, it will offer a transcript, which, if it's a product in which I have some interest, I can at least scroll to the end to find out they want more than I care to pay. The problem is the backstories are probably fake, but created to lure in the listener/reader on an emotional level...trying to sound like something the reader/listener might be going through "Dude, I can relate!" It's a marketing technique that now makes me delete the email or ad as soon as I see a video. JUST GET TO THE POINT!!! Hate that.
To readers, I posted Mark's comment because it seemed sincere (not malicious) and actually seemed to offer helpful input to the question. I am just warning that you go to the web links at your own risk.
Mark, thanks for the helpful options. I do regularly clean my browser history and cookies for just that reason. I even set it NOT to personalize (a setting I didn't even know was available). And all your suggestions may be valid and real. My problem is why it is we have to do it at all? Why can't we just get along? That is, I do have a problem with all of that in my own experience and your suggestions might assist me in it, but my real complaint is why I need to do all that. And, of course, these are just rhetorical questions.
And clickbait, Marshal. I hate it in all its forms. "Need help with this problem? Well, just click here!" Not.
Solution: Pirate Radio station.
just think of how satisfying it would be to know; that all you have to do is transmit.
You could also have special guest and puppet shows. .
To readers, I posted Mark's although it could be dangerous because I thought it might be helpful. I posted Bob's because it can't be dangerous or helpful but certainly is entertaining. Thanks, Bob.
I completely agree. I went online to look at health insurance options as a very early step to deciding what my options were and I got bombarded. Not only the internet by phone calls as well. It’s frustrating because the net is a great tool to research purchases, but the algorithms assume that research means something else entirely.
Craig! I almost forgot about the constant Medicare calls I get. Well...they're not really from the Social Security Administration...who I believe NEVER calls a person without an invitation...but they all know somehow that I'm nearing that age and somehow know I expressed an interest. Yet, I'd expressed absolutely NO interest before the calls came began coming in...often three or four per day. My wife just lets it ring if Caller ID doesn't identify the caller. But I don't know if a non-answer makes them call again or just move on, so I answer and mess with them. Sometime I offer them a chance to see a great new home-based business opportunity. Other times I insist they tell me how they think they know I have an interest. Other times I ask the caller for their home phone number and I'll get back to them later. Sometimes I encourage them to find a real job and stop lying to people that their having people's phone number was the result of honorable means.
And of course, when we were seeking a better health insurance deal, we were constantly called long after we found a plan we liked. I think the problem there was related to how my wife began her search. She should have just sought out specific companies and called them directly, but instead she went through some "broker" of some sort and the hell ensued. It's very much like having a troll constantly posting comments directed at someone who has blocked them.
I use those phone calls as an opportunity to present the gospel. Well, sometimes I like to play with them. Well, most of the time I like to play with them. But I do engage some of them in salvation talk. Doesn't take long to get hung up on, though.
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