Ads make me use social media less (even though I tolerate it elsewhere)
Ads are everywhere on social media, including between short videos and social media posts. And while I tolerate ads in many places, they make me use social media platforms less and less.
We’ve always had ads in our media, but in the last few years they’ve spread across all the platforms we have access to. On radio, TV – even streaming services – ads are sent by post and across all our social media channels.
It seems impossible to live life without encountering ads, and the only way to avoid them is to pay for the privilege. I’m tired of targeted ads and constantly feeling like I need to buy things to live my normal, everyday life – before I even leave the house.
Even the social media accounts I volunteer to follow become nothing more than human advertising. I have many friends who work as influencers on Instagram, YouTube and Tiktok – and I signed up to follow them years ago because we were childhood friends. Now I’m also haunted by ads from my personal channels.
In between the short video content are ads – usually both targeted and generic – that mess with my brain anyway. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between what is advertising and what is considered “content” because everything is trying to sell me something.
I’m not interested in targeted ads
The idea of targeted ads terrifies me and annoys me to no end. I’m not one to part with money easily – it’s rare that I’m “influenced” to buy something just from an ad. I’ve actively chosen to avoid targeted ads because I don’t want to see any ads at all, I’d rather be tailored to my interests as little as possible.
Social media ads seem to have the opposite effect of attracting me; I’m often forced to close the app completely so I can’t see any ads.
I grew up in the 90’s – our TV had standard commercials, made for kids of my generation – the original targeted advertising. Back then, TVs had no pause or rewind buttons and all the commercials were on at the same time, so you couldn’t switch to another channel to avoid commercial breaks.
I have clear memories of my siblings and myself using commercial breaks to get a snack or a drink, leaving at least one sibling in front of the TV to yell at the others. I grew up on errand efficiency commercials.
Being used to ads at set times, I learned to live with them very well. I could anticipate them and avoid them in a productive way. Not so with modern advertising.
So how are social media ads different?
I don’t get much real value out of using social media, so increasing the ads only further separates me from wanting to engage. I don’t plan my social media usage like the way I plan to watch a TV show. I can turn it off at any time.
The only thing that draws me back to social media is the sneaky feeling of FOMO – the cure for missing out – that comes from not knowing if something incredibly exciting has happened that I haven’t seen yet. Spoiler alert: you’ll never find anything exciting. Just more ads.
I also wouldn’t pay money to remove ads for this reason. Social media with ads or ads being removed is worthless to me. I would pay to remove ads for a platform whose native content is now considered ads in a different form – user generated content or influencer marketing – so it seems like a situation regardless.
TikTok is adding more productive content to its platform, but with ads, I still don’t want to engage with it. Annoying, repetitive and overly targeted ads make me quit – and sometimes delete – the social media in question.
It works as a positive in my life to help me limit my social media usage. Ads don’t appeal to me; they push me out I no longer use platforms like TikTok or Snapchat – both of which add sneaky ways to boost your ads to the platforms.
So in a way, the ads actually help me limit my social media usage.
I have a co-worker who always tries the one month or free trial to see if the premium plan is worth it. Social media companies also offer paid plans that can limit or remove ads on the platform, but not every platform offers this.
In the EU, Meta offers an ad-free subscription. X offers different levels of X Premium. Reddit offers Reddit Premium. But when trying these subscriptions, my coworkers often concluded that they just weren’t worth the price when you considered the value they offered. For example, it’s not worth paying Meta to not show you ads because the subscription only applies to one account and won’t solve the underlying quality issues of Instagram and Facebook.
At the end of the day, I wouldn’t use these subscriptions to avoid social media ads. I don’t mind seamless ads within content-rich platforms. If the platform wants to make money this way and I can continue to use it for free, then I will let the ads be present and just scroll them or wait 30 seconds before seeing or hearing more content.
Money is a luxury for me and I can’t afford to use it just to get ads. I have needs—and many more wants than no ads—in my life that I can’t justify a premium subscription to apps that bring me little value. Sometimes the ads are even useful; I have discovered many new platforms through web ads or YouTube video ads.
I personally prefer untargeted ads over targeted ones. I know I won’t buy anything directly from the ad anyway, so why show me ads for services I already use or pay for? For example, I get ads for Adobe software all the time and have been a paying subscriber for over a decade.
I’d much rather see an ad that shows me something outside of my typical interests and helps me discover something new than to play with the status quo and think I need more of the same product I already have and use. If anything, I would pay to be sent better variety ads for future discoveries.
I don’t mind commercials, but I think they have their time and place. Social media ads need an overhaul, because I suspect I’m not the only person who would rather close an app than sit through countless 30-second, uninspiring ads every two minutes.