Supporting Internet Creators and Blocking Ads

How to fund the content you care about without subjecting yourself to ads

One of the very first things I do whenever setting up a new computer or phone is download an ad block extension for my internet browser. I am partial to uBlock Origin, which is available on Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. If you are willing to put up with green texts, you can even add uBlock Origin to the Android version of Firefox.

At this point, I wouldn’t recognize an internet without an ad blocker. Whenever I have to disable the extension to troubleshoot an ad campaign that I am working for my day job, the internet quickly becomes overwhelming. And yes, I understand the irony.

These two screenshots, taken seconds apart, show the difference between the default experience (top) and the ad blocker experience (bottom) on the homepage of the Kansas City Star, a major newspaper. I made no edits to the screenshots beyond combining them into a single image. See for yourself!

Ad blockers do more than clean up your internet experience. When a browser is prevented from downloading and caching ad ele…