I keep noticing that in non ad cluttered UIs and searches my eyes automatically go to the secondary information sometimes making me miss the primary information.

Someone will say “click on “name” element” and I’ll search for it but miss it even though it’s the most “eye catching” thing. Or I find I open the link a few down from the top one even if it’s not sponsored.

The mental filter to find good information hiding in a sea of dominant splashy advertisements has resulted in a reduction in my performance in processing well meaning eye catching designs meant to guide me to useful information.

Has anyone else experienced this?

  • Psythik@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 days ago

    Can’t relate; I blocked ads on every PC, phone, and TV I own over 15 years ago now and haven’t looked back. Don’t know why anyone would voluntarily put up with ads when there are oh so many ways to easily block them.

    Firefox w/Ublock Origin
    NextDNS
    DuckDuckGo App Tracking Protection
    YouTube/YT Music ReVanced
    SmartTubeNext
    Stremio, Torrentio, and Real-Debrid

    ^ Look into these things. They will change your life forever.

  • Owl@mander.xyz
    0·
    2 days ago

    Had the same thing with youtube videos, my brain filters out eye-catching thumbnails

  • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
    0·
    3 days ago

    my best friends dad growing up was an advertisement executive… he gave me a lot of insight to advertising and advertisment…

    basically you have to understand the game so you can block it, and once you understand the rules it won’t get to you and you won’t notice it … unless it’s marketing art and then you see it

  • sbv@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    3 days ago

    I find online formats have shrunk my attention span. I don’t think I’ve experienced what you describe, however.

  • BurgerBaron@piefed.socialEnglish
    0·
    3 days ago

    Nope. I’ve successfully avoided most digital ads my entire life thus far. Block 'em all. Plus I don’t watch Shorts etc on any platform current day or long defunct apps in the past.

    I read a ton still, and on paper for the majority of that. Guest room is full of book shelves. Some digital through epub / Moon+ Reader paid version of the app which… removes ads, haha. Not that I’d see them with TrackerControl installed, but the screen space waste blank ad bar would remain.

    Stuff out of my control offline is it and it’s just annoying instead of detrimental. The gas station pumps adding obnoxious screens is the most infuriating new thing so far. I show up to movies later to miss the pre-rolls which is easy now with assigned seats.

      • BurgerBaron@piefed.socialEnglish
        0·
        3 days ago

        No problem! It can be a little aggressive at times, but it’s easy enough to whitelist stuff. For example it blocked some YouTube ReVanced or Piefed/Lemmy thumbnails I noticed by default on my end. I’m running GrapheneOS for mobile.

        Just in case you run into something broken and aren’t sure why lol.

    • BussyGyatt@feddit.orgEnglish
      0·
      3 days ago

      if you can get something long and slender and relatively strong you can usually destroy the speaker.

      • BurgerBaron@piefed.socialEnglish
        0·
        3 days ago

        I used to lol, but now they use the screens with the tinny awful built in rear mounted speakers you can’t reach.

      • estutweh@aussie.zone
        0·
        2 days ago

        Various distros over the years; used OpenBSD, FreeBSD and Solaris for a while, back using Fedora at the moment.

    • crimsonpoodle@pawb.socialOP
      0·
      3 days ago

      I mostly do but now ads for services are baked into some software. But yeah when I don’t have to use it for work will be a blessing

      • Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.socialEnglish
        0·
        3 days ago

        With ReVanced you can patch adds out of some apps.

        You can also setup AdGuard or PiHole on your network, which will block the vast majority of adds coming into your network.

        So as long as you’re on your WiFi, no adds

      • CrayonDevourer@lemmy.world
        0·
        3 days ago

        You’re a victim of your own failure to advocate. Ads aren’t just an annoyance, they are a security failure. Even “trusted” ad networks have been infiltrated and dispersed malware. If you are allowed the browse the internet at all at work, I would not ALLOW you to browse the web without an adblocker at minimum.

  • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
    0·
    3 days ago

    I never thought about this being caused by ads, but, maybe.

    It goes beyond reading too. When I worked retail, we had a saying, “when you can’t find something, it’s right in front of you.” We would just look over the item we were searching for because we were looking everywhere but directly in front of us

    • Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      0·
      2 days ago

      I lost my hairbrush, couldn’t find it, gave up and used a comb. Three days later, It was right there on my nightstand.

      I also lost my keys once for five days, (I had a spare set thankfully). They were on top of a cabinet.

      All the damn time. It’s “funny” but honestly, so frustrating I’m like this. If I can’t find something, best to just wait, it’ll appear eventually.

      • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 days ago

        I often joke to my wife: “I can’t find X anywhere! Give me something else to start looking for so I can find them!”