Though the ad blocking controversy may have started many years ago when Ad Block was created around the year 2006, the storm has been simmering more in recent years. And now with Ad Block Plus in the scene, the issue is in the news more often than not. Therefore, the big questions when it comes to Internet advertising are: should we block the ads or should we not? Do advertisers have an absolute right to advertise to us even when we do not want it? We will use a number of pros and cons of ad blocking to answer these two pertinent questions.
THE PROS
1) – Ad Blocking Gives You Some Measure of Control
When you use a program like Ad Block Plus to block advertisements from the sites that you visit online, it gives you a measure of control over what you want to see and what you do not want to see. Sometimes ads may be useful and you’ll get to know, for example, about special Kohl’s deals or other occasions, but most of the times you simply don’t have any use for the adverts. As a consumer of online content, you have a right not to be bombarded with a tirade of ads.
2) – No More Annoying Pop-up Ads
Pop-up ads can really be an annoying thing when you are surfing the web. Even more disgusting are those unscrupulous companies that persist on using tricks and schemes that try to force consumers to look at ads that they really would not really care about if they had an option not to. Today, the Internet is full of hundreds of side-screen and other types of ads that you are forced to watch, albeit for a split second, before clicking them away.
3) – Lowers the Cost of Close Monitoring Your Kids
Some parents had been trying for years to find a way of protecting their kids from questionable ad content online… then came the blessing of Ad Block Plus! With the Internet being a massive decentralized modern necessary evil, you never know where bad people can come from. Regarding the consumerism of online technologies by children and minors, there is a real inherent potential harm posed by numerous ads and advertisers that parents need to try and avoid. Other ads are just plain viruses.
4) – Faster Browsing
With the Ad Block Plus add-on as part of your browser, you have much less junk and unwanted content to load when surfing the Internet. This makes it much quicker to browse and load pages online… plus the use of less computer resources.
THE CONS
Ads Run the Commercial World!
As far as the use of Ad Block Plus and ad blocking is concerned, all the cons we can think of can be boiled down into one pot: money! Figure this, income derived from ads accounts for as much as 95% of some companies’ earnings. Another thing: what would happen to the Internet if all advertisers pulled out of the scene? Ads run the Internet! We can’t really live without them, otherwise we would have to pay for every single technology we use online. Ads run even TV and radio, otherwise we would be paying to watch news and listen to music!
In simple English, what we are saying is that having to put up with a little bit of advertising is a very small price to pay for the kind of convenience that modern technology affords us. Next time you talk to an anti-ad advocate, please ask them to examine the engine that really makes the commercial world run.
