Psychology of Technology: Ad Out!
No, I’m not talking about the U. S. Open Tennis Championships just concluded in New York. I’m talking about the invasion of Web site real estate by all manner of ads. Have you looked at your most frequently visited Web sites lately, I mean really looked at them. Go back to a few and take a really careful look. What do you see? That’s right, you may not have noticed it before because you’ve become so inured to them, but you may actually see more ads than content on any given Web page.
In researching this post, I have learned far more than I cared to about the ways in which on-line advertisers try to entice us into giving them that little bit of ‘click love’ that they so crave. Sex, money, outlandish claims, irrelevant information, nothing is out of bounds when it comes to grabbing our attention and generating the almighty dollar (or Euro or Yen).
I also learned about all of the different types of Web ads and their evolution in sophistication. Banner and sidebar ads at the top of a Web site? Gosh, I don’t even notice them anymore. Those crafty Web advertisers need to do better than that to get my attention. And they sure try. Remember pop-up ads? Boy, were those dinosaurs a nuisance. But no longer thanks to those clever pop-up blockers (though those pesky Netflix ads still seem to get through).
How about those before-you-even-get-to-the-home-page ads that you must “Skip This Ad” to even get to what you want to see. Those are beyond irritating. Now we’re getting into Web ad territory that really gets my knickers in an uproar (haven’t used that one in a few decades). Have you ever arrived at a Web page excited to read something of interest and, just as you’re about to start reading, a pull-down banner ad blocks your view? Aarrgghh! These days, you can’t move your mouse very far on the screen without some infuriating little pop-up window appearing. What do you think of interstitials? Uh?, you ask. These are the ads that appear when you transition from one page of a site to the next, forcing you to wait it out or suffer the indignity of having to click again just to get the page you wanted in the first place. I find roll-overs, those ads that look like links, but have a double underline and cause a small window to pop up when you roll over it, especially annoying. Scrolling on sites with roll-overs is like playing an obstacle-course video game trying to avoid the booby traps as you move down the page. Then there are floating ads that move across the screen and follow your scrolling movements. And unicast ads bombard us with video and sound without prompting and require effort to find the ad and turn off the darned thing off.
I accept that Web sites need to be financially self-sustaining. And Web ads allow us to access a vast universe of information and services free of charge. I can live with many Web ads; I just ignore them. My basic philosophy is that if they don’t bother me (too much), I won’t bother them. But I get really steamed when Web ads infringe on my ability to accomplish what I want on a Web site, namely, view content. When Web ads waste my time and distract me from my purpose, then they have gone too far. That’s when I stand with Howard Beale, the fictional newscaster in the film Network who, on the brink of insanity, declares, “I’m mad as Hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.”
Has that line been crossed from necessary evil to unacceptable intrusion? Should these ads be labeled for what I think they are: spam and an unwelcome and inappropriate infringement on my Web-viewing experience? Should we be able to opt out of Web ads? We don’t boycott TV, radio, or magazines because we are in inundated with commercials and ads. We’ve just come to accept them as a part of television (though commercial-free HBO sure is a joy to watch). In fact, advertising on TV has become another form of viewing entertainment, for example, the commercials seen during the Super Bowl. Should Web advertising be any different?
And prepare yourself, this is just the beginning. Web advertising, only about a dozen or so years old now, is still in its infancy. There are some very smart people out there looking for new and more intrusive ways to get our attention and lure us into clicking on their ads. So do we accept them as we do on TV, radio, and magazines? Or do we demand legislation that gives up the power to opt out? My sense is that, at least for the foreseeable future, we’ll just have to suck it up. I don’t see Web ads going away any time soon, so if we want the wheat, we’ll have to accept the chaff, at least until other smart people find ways to block more of the irritating little intruders.
P.S. Thanks to Tyler Earman for introducing the image and the idea for this post to me.
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Comments
jimski Can’t live with them. Internet can’t live without them. So we just have to learn to tolerate the inevitable. Even if I am remotely interested in an ad offering I almost never click through (unless it’s this site of course) in my feeble attempt to discourage the practice. And if a site goes too far with their ad barrage I don’t return.
Some ads do get in the way of what would otherwise be a relaxing and enjoyable experience, often creating an opposite, irritating effect. I can only assume that it will get worse. Maybe that’s why I am spending more time reading RSS feeds on my phone instead of broswing sites.
Doug Smith I agree that ads are a pain in the @$$. I for one have never installed any mouse over, or HIGHLY annoying pop up ads. I also keep a very strict eye on what is being displayed on all my sites. The only ads are to the right in the sidebar and a few in the posts. I think we have the least intrusive ads that I have seen on the Mobility Blogs. But this is the only way I have to generate any revenue and keep the site going. This is not free, and I have needed to upgrade from my Shared Host for quite some time, but don’t have the revenue to support it. The other problem is we are not big enough to get Direct Advertising by manufacturers and developers. So Google is the only way to generate enough money to pay the bills. Hopefully everyone can tolerate what we have today, and maybe support us by clicking an ad that you find interesting. It helps a lot! 
I have been needing to make some changes that are far beyond my skill to accomplish to the websites, but the revenue is not there. I am debating asking for a one time donation from everyone for just enough to make the changes we need and add some more functionality, search improvements, and upgrade the theme. I am returning from a horrible month of business travel and workload, but I want to continue our community and support the Touch Pro II. Let me know what you all think.
[...] written before on Dr. Jim’s blog posts, because they always provide lively and stimulating commentary on various tech-related areas [...]
[...] written before on Dr. Jim’s blog posts, because they always provide lively and stimulating commentary on various tech-related areas [...]
It’s true. They are annoying, and have been for years. The problem is, if you don’t have a product for sale yourself, ads are pretty much the only way to earn revenue.
Unfortunately, it’s big business. We are bombarded with ads everywhere. Television, radio, there are phone ads (cell phones and land lines), billboards; hell, people even place ads on their bodies. You can’t escape it.
I don’t think most companies will be happy until they have ads so proliferated through society that we can’t ever not see them. Wait for the “dream ads” and the behind the eyelids imagery
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And sooooo much of it just isn’t relevant at all. It’s a damn shame. But I see no solution. Glad I got noscript and adblocker plus
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