20190124.0430

Not long ago, my wife bought me a new cell phone, a LG Stylo 3. It had been a thing that we had discussed doing, something prompted in part by my work in social media. (I freelance as a social media consultant, among others.) I was glad to receive the phone; I have tended to lag behind others in such things, to be sure, and although I still do not have a top-of-the-line model, the phone I have now is a substantial upgrade from the one I had previously. So far, I have been pleased with its capabilities, pleased with the ways in which it has made some of the work I do easier. And I am, of course, grateful to my wonderful wife for providing me the equipment.
That said, the phone does have quite an annoying feature. On it, I am inundated with advertisements. The phone will, at random moments when active but not in use, present me with ads for apps--some of which, I already have installed. I may go to check the time on my phone, or exit a timer, or end a call, or send a text message--and an ad for some app will pop up. The individual ad is easily dismissed, of course, but I am annoyed by the fact that I have to dismiss them. They are annoyances only, of course; I am not hindered by them, or even much delayed. But they are annoyances, and, given how I grew up and by what I was nurtured, I am of the opinion that technologies are supposed to reduce the number of annoyances with which I am presented. Perhaps it is a naïve opinion to retain, given the entanglements of capitalism and technological development, but it is still one that informs my daily deeds.
I do not know what setting on my phone it is that allows such things, else I would have remedied the issue, but, since I do not know it, I find myself annoyed by the frequent intrusion of ads into my life. I have tended to try to make my home a place of respite from such; my family does not have television service, and we are careful about the branding on our clothes and the goods we buy. To have the ads pop up on my phone as they are doing--not while amid other apps, where such would be reasonably expected, but at odd intervals during other kinds of use--stands out the more strongly to me, therefore. Maybe, were I less attuned to such or less insistent that such things be minimized in my home-space, I would not find myself so concerned, and I am mindful that such problem as it is is a small one I am fortunate to be able to have. I know more are not able to be in such a situation than are, and not all who are able are immersed in it. But I am attuned and insistent, so I am concerned, and I am not pleased by it.