True to some degree, but rooting can be a pain on devices that make you do it again after an update. For me, the bigger issue with a hosts file is that it does

True to some degree, but rooting can be a pain on devices that make you do it again after an update. For me, the bigger issue with a hosts file is that it doesn't cover conditional cases. For instance, there are times when I want to read some comments or play a video, or even unblock a single page element, but otherwise I want to block that stuff entirely. Facebook comments is one example. My recommendation is still to do both. Hosts file covers other apps nicely like stupid in-app banner ads, while using Firefox or something with ad-blocking extensions still lets you browse the web without breaking some sites entirely.