Ad-Free Living: Is it Possible?
By: Daniel Pohl
Tags: Minimalism, Lifestyle, Minimalist, Advertising, Life

Every single day, the average person in the United States sees an estimated 5,000 ads. This has risen drastically from the 500 ads the average person would see in the 1970s. Take into account that there are 1,440 minutes in a day, you’re at a rate of 3.5 ads a minute.

Not only has the number of ads we see increased exponentially, but they are also becoming increasingly more invasive. Is there a way we can escape this ad-filled existence?

The short answer is no. You can’t avoid ads. You can try destroying all of your technology, moving into the woods, and cutting off all ties to the civilized world. Someone would still travel to your log cabin to inform you that your car warranty is close to expiring.

Some Insight into Advertising

Here is the thing, ads and advertising are not inherently evil things. In fact, they are good things in a certain capacity. Advertising allows new ideas to enter the market and for businesses to sustain their revenue to pay for employees. Online ads generate revenue for bloggers and website owners. The need for advertisement generates jobs for artists and business majors. In short, ads are a vital part of creating a sustainable living for millions of people across the country.

But if ads are beneficial, why would you want to avoid them? Because there is a boundary where advertising goes from healthy to unhealthy, and we’ve already passed it.

A large part of today’s advertising is based on tracking potential customers. Most places you go online are tracking your every digital move. Telling advertising platforms what product you looked at, how many times you looked at it, what buttons you pressed on a webpage, and more. Creating a profile around your habits so they can place more ads in front of you. It’s not about compelling you to buy a product. It’s about forcing you to see a product everywhere you go online until you buy it.

This form of marketing and advertisement, known as retargeting, has given rise to platforms finding more ways to demand your attention.

Facebook gets money by you scrolling through the timeline and seeing the ads they put on it. Which leads to Facebook trying to find new ways to keep you scrolling through your feed. Your social media addiction is directly tied to their ability to generate a better profit. It’s not just Facebook either, most social platforms are working on ways to keep users glued to their newsfeeds and timelines.

There is also the general amount of ads we are seeing now, and their effect on us. Ads have infiltrated every digital and physical medium imaginable. There was a time when you saw commercials while watching TV shows. Now TV shows are commercials with their product placement. YouTube is increasing the number of ads between videos. You can’t watch a video on Facebook without Raid: Shadow Legends appearing halfway through it. Instagram got a horrible redesign that made shopping a priority over user interaction and experience. There are ad platforms disguised as mobile games. Even my Kindle E-Reader came with ads on the lock screen. (I’ll mention how to remove those Kindle ads below)

Is There a Way to Escape Ads?

Like I said at the beginning, you can’t live a truly ad-free life. But you can limit your exposure to them, and create a healthier relationship with the ones you do see. There will always be ads and advertising in your life, but you get to decide the impact they have on you. Let’s explore some ways we can step outside an ad-driven existence and take back control.

Get Rid of Notifications: Most of the direct advertisements you see are through social media apps. These apps will send you constant notifications to get you back to scrolling on their platforms. Like I mentioned above, the more they can keep you scrolling through your timeline, the more money they can generate showing you ads. Here’s the thing, nothing on Facebook or Instagram is so important it can’t wait. Generally the same can be said about your email as well. If something important happens, someone will call or text you. If someone emails you an emergency, that’s on them for poor communication choices.

You could go all the way and delete your social media accounts the way I did. For a gentler approach, you can settle for turning off notifications on your phone and stop letting your apps demand your attention. Along with seeing fewer advertisements, you’ll have fewer interrupted conversations and experiences. My phone will only notify me of phone calls and text messages. I turned off all other notifications.

Unsubscribe from Emails: Our inbox is prime real estate for advertisers. You can get advertisements sent to your inbox, even if you didn’t opt into receiving them. Sometimes you get tricked into opting into emails without knowing it. Even checking out online can tie you into promotional emails. I’ve seen email inboxes that get 100s of promotional emails a month from different companies.

It’s time to start unsubscribing from these emails and taking back your inbox. Each promotional email is required to have an “Unsubscribe” button on it. Likely it’s at the bottom of the email. They tend to be small and lightly colored or hidden in with other text at the bottom. Click this button, follow any prompts, and get off their mailing list.

Use an Ad Blocker: Currently working in marketing, I spend quite a bit of time online during the workweek. To make this time more enjoyable, I implement three forms of ad blocking technology.

The great thing about today’s ad blockers is that they do more than block ads. They give you control of the ads you see. I use Adblocker Plus, a free ad blocker browser extension that blocks most ads and stops websites from tracking you. It gives you options to allow acceptable ads, meaning ads that are not intrusive or annoying. You can also whitelist websites you want to support, allowing ads on them. This way you can block the majority of ads while still supporting smaller content creators on their website.

Understand Ads and Your Relationship With Them: Advertisements will always be a mainstay in our life. What is important is to understand the nature of the ads we see. Some advertisements are honest, simply a local business looking for new clients. There are, however, less than honest advertisements, and the images on them are often designed to make us feel like we need more. They want us to feel like we never have enough. That we will always need more, and when we have more, that there is still more to need.

They show us shiny new cars driven by people with flawless skin and bright smiles. I’ve done photography. I have used fancy lighting and edited out the perceived flaws to make both people and cars look beyond perfect. The level of fashion, beauty, and success you see in advertisements is not authentic. Even if it was, it’s not necessary. They are selling their need to generate revenue and make a profit. They are not selling a sustainable formula for happiness and life satisfaction. When you understand this, you get to limit how much of an effect they have on you.

What Comes Next?

As you start taking a step back from ads and advertising, you open new possibilities. If you follow these steps and start changing your relationship with advertising, why not take it further? Start questioning not just your relationship with advertising, but with stuff in general. There’s a good chance advertising has filled your life with the stuff that’s around you.

To help you learn more about that mindset, here’s an article I wrote called Minimalism: A Definition

I hope this advice helps you on your journey, and as always, thanks for reading.

(For those with a Kindle E-Reader that comes prepackaged with ads, go on Amazon.com and chat with support. Ask them to remove the ads from your e-reader, they’ll do it for free).