# Adblocking ## November 15, 2022 Gabriella Playa ## **Before uBlock origin:** * Homepage of https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/tiktok <br/> ![](https://i.imgur.com/aqLr9Tg.jpg) <br/> ![](https://i.imgur.com/Fgmqnxf.jpg) Ads for AMC theatres, Vegamour, Equinox, Always, and Forex.com pop up in just two swipes into this news website's homepage. What's interesting about these ads is that some would say they are for traditionally feminine products. I can understand why most people say they would prefer not to have clickable pop-up ads, because most of the time they're just nuisances and not something people will actually click on, or they will click on accident. Davis et. al actually talked more about the purpose of ads. "It is more about informing them than acting as the persuasive door to door salesman." Basically, he is saying that people are misinterpreting the intent of the ads. It makes sense, but I am not sure I'm completely sold on it. I believe there is some intent somewhere in the ad to get someone to do something, maybe even to implant a want in a person's mind, "reminding" them that they wanted or needed something. <br/> * Homepage Dictionary.com ![](https://i.imgur.com/E9NNUv0.png) This set of ads are interesting because all three of them are for Canva. I have used Canva very recently to create a slide presentation for class, but they always attempt to promote their premium subscription, which unlocks multiple templates and other ailments. ## **After uBlock origin:** ![](https://i.imgur.com/ev8iUWF.jpg) <br/> ![](https://i.imgur.com/z4Ks7wW.jpg) Once I installed uBlock origin, the spaces the ads once took up became empty. I was honestly slightly expecting the size of the clickable articles to change, but everything remained the same. <br/> ![](https://i.imgur.com/LMWV8tx.png) I think overall people just want to be safe from those "viruses" and malware that they do not understand, like in the Google GIMP situation. People may think, "If the *pros* let malware into its searches, how will *I* know what websites are secure?" The average person may not know how to get rid of malware once it is installed or accessed. The idea of Adblock Plus comes to mind. I think technology like that, once installed, may make people feel like they are not being targeted to spend unnecessary money, or have a virus on their computer, but are being shown sensible advertisements.
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Reading Responses Set 2

Gabriella Playa Reading Response 1 November 1, 2022 - Finding Someone & living alone People lie online, but they can lie in real life too. Online dating has really blown up in the past two decades. Not only has it allowed people to meet someone they would've never met otherwise, but it is also influencing a shift away from societal norms of the past. "Online dating is efficient. We're a fast food society and now you have a pool of eligible people to choose from." A quote I found online when I was researching online dating is a good jusitification for online dating. First, and I never thought about it in this light before, but online dating provides so many opportunities for people in the LGBTQ+ community. It also provides opportunities for people who are shy to meet people and express themselves freely. The dating pool has expanded to such a large quantity of people that we don't know where to start. This ties into the increase of people living alone in America, and the enlightening article "Living alone in America." "America is in the midst of a transformation in household living arrangements with one in seven adults now living alone, amounting to more than one-quarter of all U.S. households." The exact reason behind this is not stated, but we can only assume it is because people are marrying later, and spending more of their time "exploring their options."

12/5/2022
Gabriella Playa's Home Page

AKA Crabby Gabby Syllabus - COMM 1255 Assignments Wiki tutorial Web search and evaluation Filter and label your email Adblocking

11/21/2022
Reading Responses - Set 1

Gabriella Playa Reading Response 1 September 20, 2022 - "How the Web Works" The web is like a long journey to a shop. This metaphor is explained by the MDN contributors, who make the basics of the "behind the scenes" of the web interesting, and easier to understand. The most enjoyable part of this metaphor is that it is very relatable to our daily lives. The basic beginning is to compare "clients" and "servers", different types of computers that respond to each other to access webpages, to your home and the shop you need to get to. Yet, it isn't as simple as that. There are many other factors, such as searching up the address, or Domain Name System, so you may get to the shop, or webpage. Though they compared component files, which are files that make up the content of a website, to the goods you buy at a shop, I believe they could have also compared the IP addresses of websites to the goods you sift through at a shop. Maybe there would be some fault in this comparison, because the "server" is the shop, and the IP address is unique to each webpage attempting to be accessed. I had this idea while reading because the unique numbers of an IP address are like goods at a grocery store: different types, but each unique in what they offer the consumer, or user. In the close of this article, MND explains that information is sent in "packets", or bags of goods you purchase from the shop, from servers to clients, which allows content to be displayed for the user. The metaphor is useful in that it goes through the entire journey to the shop, and back to your home. It seems as though there is more to the web to explain, as this only really scratches the surface of how the web works. I do wonder though, could this metaphor be applied to a more complex explanation of how the web works, as well as this basic one? Reading Response 2

10/21/2022
Filter and Label Your Email

Gabriella Playa After reading Claire Wardle's article "Understanding Information Disorder", I realized that there are clickbait titles in a majority of my emails, mainly on Gmail, rather than my Northeastern email. I did notice I was subscribed to emails from Forever 21, though, which brought me to create my final rule. Reading these articles is disturbing because it feels as though they are diagnosing the people using technology with certain types of "disorders." I believe it's disturbing because it's true. Imposter websites, scam emails, sometimes so believable we feel they warrant a response, are taking over our daily internet searches. This "disinformation", as it is coined in "Understanding Information Disorder" is more harmful than we believe it to be. We would believe that "filter bubbles" are strong enough to block out or at least dismiss this information as false, but because recent generations have become so drawn to the "clickability" of links, we are apt to falling into these "fake news" areas of the internet, if that is even the word for it. I know personally many of my peers use social media instead of actual, credited websites for our "news."For example, a lot of people actually use TikTok as a credible source for all rumors and gossip they believe are "news." This is disturbing because it only furthers our case of "information disorder."

9/30/2022
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