Why There’s No YKWBS Episode on Internet Ads

So, you’re sitting in your basement looking utterly defeated in front of your computer screen, or you may be sitting on your bed staring at your phone or tablet, browsing the internet. Your face is deadpan and miserable, before you slam your fist on your desk when something that most internet users hate pops up. And you know what’s BS? Internet advertisements, and I’m here to explain why James Rolfe has never put out an episode on that topic yet.

You know, there was a time, and I mean simpler. A time when a computer was just a computer, and not some machine designed to scream advertisements at you from every angle. In the mid to late 1990s, you could go on the internet, and a banner ad would be right there at the top of the page. At first, you normally didn’t care about what was being advertised, and you’d ignore it. That was the extent of it. But now, it’s become like a war out there, and every single ad is a soldier trying to invade your computer.

It starts with the harmless stuff. A banner at the top, a small box on the side. Those are fine, but then you start to notice something strange. For example, that pair of shoes you looked at on one site is suddenly everywhere. It’s on every site you visit and YouTube video you watch. It’s like your computer is spying on you, and it definitely is.

You start to feel it. A little voice in your head says, “What am I doing? What is this thing thinking?” It’s actually part of a pop-up ad, and it’s the most common annoyance when browsing the internet. Not to mention, dozens of websites are trying to get you to subscribe or sign up for their fancy newsletter or some crap. There are also cookie banners on every single website you visit now. You try to close it, but it won’t let you. You try clicking on the “X”, and it disappears, moves, or opens another page. It’s an obstacle course. A mouse trap!

And then, things get worse. You want to watch a video on YouTube, or specifically the one you clicked on? First, you have to watch a thirty-second commercial for a product you don’t care about. You can’t even skip it. So you sit there, seething, watching the timer count down, your rage building, because you’ve been hijacked by a laundry detergent commercial, financial companies promoting their premium card services, or food companies doing some stupid promotion and such.

Don’t even get me started on the clickbait. You won’t believe what happens when you see an ad for a prize for eating a potato without even chewing on it. It’s impossible, and always a lie. And when you click on it, you expect some kind of reward, but you end up on another ad, a different or worse one, sometimes even louder. You’re being fed poison, and you keep coming back because you’ve been conditioned to do so.

And you know what the ultimate BS is? It’s that we’ve come to accept this. We ended up rolling over and letting the internet be taken over by ads. This was the reason the ad blocker was invented, but creators and publishers just get around them by forcing you to disable it or pay for an overpriced subscription. It’s a game of cat and mouse, and it leaves the computer user as the mouse.

We used to have control by being able to go on the internet and just browse. Not anymore; it’s now become a minefield of ads, and the only way to win is to not play. How do we not even play? It’s impossible, you’re trapped, and we’re all in this digital hellscape together all because of internet ads. There you have it. And don’t do these newsletter signups and cookie banners either, because they are BS.