>but a company should not do unethical things that it _knows_ is detrimental to its users' health, wealth, or happiness. By definition, an ad company cannot av

>but a company should not do unethical things that it _knows_ is detrimental to its users' health, wealth, or happiness. By definition, an ad company cannot avoid being detrimental to those things because the profit from ads comes from manipulating the user into doing what you want them to do using psychological techniques. The model of simply informative ads does not exist anymore, and if it still does, is no longer lucrative compared to the alternative. Even the most innocent ad still has to be under the thrall of SEO concepts for it to be shown to users in the first place. Some possible solutions to this: - Examining more closely whether time spent on the Internet is helping you with your projects - Be always mindful and deliberate when browsing. At all times. In fact, why not be fully in the present for everything anyway? - Assuming the worst of FAANGs and their methods, which fairly logical for a variety of reasons, and using that to inform your browsing. That is to say treating the results page as hostile territory with a few nuggets.