Controlling Your SmartPhones Cookies.

I feel like I should begin this post with the following:

Hello. My name is Gerald R.  And I am a smartphone addict.  I'm not proud to say it. In fact, I am bit ashamed to say so.

For so long, I avoided the Siren Song of the Smartphone.  But those magical little cells were everywhere. Everybody had one — and they all looked so happy when scrolling through screens and screens of the vast nothingness of Internet everywhere.  So I just had to try one.  Now I can't stop myself.  And I don't know if it is heaven or hell being able to know in almost real time the current shenanigans of the Kardasian/Jenner person of my choice whether I have on or not.  It is simply the bliss of knowing I could know what it is that I don't care to know.

Not only is the content forced upon by the Internet Gnomes so often both mind numbing and offensive, the advertising is worse.  It is only in smartphone technology that we have little choice but to endure advertising that both entices us to click, buy, rinse, and repeat; but also can insult, repulse, and offend us.  If we are reading Time Magazine we don't have to look at the advertising for Chevas Regal if we don't drink whiskey, but online advertising demands we look at the ad.  In a magazine we can turn the page on an ad that does not interest us.  On a smartphone that ad will be displayed whether we want to see it or not.

Other than paying a subscription fee, as users we have little control over the amount of ads we see.  But we users can control to an astonishing degree the Content of the Ads We See.  We do that by making Cookies Work for Us.

Cookies in and of themselves are to a great extent innocuous.  A cookie is simply a text file that contains some information web browsers can read that tell the browser something about how any one machine is used when surfing the web.  Yes, cookies can be put to nefarious use, but these days hackers have much richer targets than cookies.  Advertisers are one group that do utilize the information stored in the cookies.  So why not tell these snooping advertisers what we may be interested in.  And also what we have no interest in.  What I am about say next may seem counterintuitive.  The way to control what ads you see is to CLICK ON THE ADS OF THINGS YOU LIKE TO SEE.  When you click on an ad you are telling whoever placed the ad that you had a favorable response to a similar ad.  So send me more of the same.

For me, I like looking at guitars and tube based Pro Audio.  So whenever an ad for a reseller or manufacturer of musical instruments and audio equipment popup, I CLICK THAT AD.  Over a period of time now, I am seeing very few ads for feminine hygiene products (for which I am not a customer) and far more ads for Guitar Center, Gibson, and Fender.  And if an ad is especially offensive, I will click the little button that says one way or the other do not show me this type of product again.

Internet advertisers and marketers are not hackers, although they sometimes do seem to act like it.  These people are simply merchants with new ways to hawk their wares.  And you can tell these advertisers what to show you; what not to show you; what are your likes and your dislikes.  You do this by setting a cookie by clicking on an ad that gives you that little dopamine burst of momentary pleasure.

This is not foolproof.  It takes a few months to work its way through your browser.  And I still see a few really offensive ads.  But far less than a year ago.  Another example from my own personal preferences.  I do not and never have clicked on any political advertising of any kind.  I now get no political advertising.  I am not saying issue advertising is not important.  I simply prefer to read the mainstream news or watch cable news shows.

Now if I just get autoplay to not play.  My adult ADD might improve.

Gerald Reiff