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Comment by poidos | Hacker News Reader

It gets grosser by the day.

This is something that is endemic not just to ad-tech companies, but regular brick and mortar stores as well: it isn't enough to just be consuming, to actually be producing value for the business: they must monetize as many seconds of our attention as possible!

If I'm buying gas, I'm being served ads via the little screen. If I'm at the grocery store, there's ads plastered onto my cart. Buy something online? I get ads for unrelated products emailed to me in the weeks after, even if I didn't agree to be marketed to (I never do.)

It makes me feel like I'm going crazy, sometimes. And what's worse is it feels like there isn't an end in sight.

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And now we can add getting ads while at the beach

https://www.reddit.com/r/Miami/comments/oovnrj/only_in_miami...

It's disgusting! And it's not just the fucking boats, but planes overhead, constantly! (I've lived in M my whole life)

>If I'm buying gas, I'm being served ads via the little screen.

The first time I saw that, my immediate reaction was to hit the screen. My second thought was to pour gas on it and light it on fire. I refuse to use any place that does this unless it is a last resort. It's not terribly common where I live (yet) but I assume it is becoming standard. It's enraging.

In my area, I have one option for fuel without ads. That's a place that has old analog pumps that still ding when the gallon dial rolls over. Obviously there's no pay at the pump.

If that store goes under or decides to modernize, then I will effectively not have a choice to get fuel without ads.

It's really frustrating. I want to let competition and the market sort it out, but when there's no variation in the options there's no real competition.

Just because competition and the "market" don't think much of your preference doesn't mean it doesn't exist lol. What a self centered view! Also it seems to me when there are no variations in the options that's when it gets the most competitive. Commodity markets are the most competitive in the world. Jesus.

> I want to let competition and the market sort it out, but when there's no variation in the options there's no real competition.

The market will always conclude it can extract more money out of us if it shows us ads. It doesn't matter what we do. Paying for stuff just makes us even more valuable to advertisers.

Wish we could just ban this stuff straight up.

Sao Paulo banned billboards and large signage throughout the city. I'm not sure if it would be a first amendment issue but it doesn't seem much different than banning billboards, which some states/cities do. Like addressing noise pollution, it's just part of not having a polluted environment.

Yeah, I've read about that. Really awesome move from São Paulo. In my city people are placing ads everywhere. About three huge billboards on every major street, electronic billboards brighter than the sun, ads near sidewalks and traffic lights, ads on street signs, ads anywhere and everywhere they can possibly get away with. I'd rather look at graffiti than this garbage...

You could put a pinch of salt into your bottle with hand sanitizer and wait for about a day till the salt is dissolved. Then when disinfecting your hands, pour a little bit into any opening you see near the screen.

(Never tried that out and never will. Hand sanitizer has about 30 percent water and salt water will both short-circuit and corrode circuits.)

What's worse is I feel like I can't trust anything I hear because I'm just trying to get sold something. Look at the FDA and it's recent extremely controversial approvals. If you can trust regulating boards anymore meant to keep you safe then there's nothing you can trust.

There is no perfect. Tossing away all the trust is also unnecessary. There will always be corruption and mistakes, but as long as there is transparency and correction, it is still a pretty good situation.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/08/health/aduhelm-alzheimers...

"We estimate we can sell up to 80% of an individual's visual field before inducing seizures."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpPE85Jogjw

i guess 81% is the end :P

Small band-aid on the repressive overall issue. You can usually push the second button down on the right-hand side to mute the mini-TV once the ads start playing. Not sure if you knew this already but I like to get the word out. And, maybe if they track how many times that button gets pressed they'll take a hint but I doubt it.

Every time I have been to a gas station that does this, the mute button is broken, presumably from so many people violently jamming it to make it stop.

I didn't know that, thank you! This will be a big relief.

This YouTube video "HYPER-REALITY" perfectly illustrates this, for the augmented reality era: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJg02ivYzSs

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