Instagram is testing unskippable "Ad Breaks" lasting 3-5 seconds, disrupting user browsing experience

ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 486 points –
Unskippable ads may soon make Instagram a nightmare just like YouTube
bgr.com
58

What a coincidence! I've been testing something myself! I call it, "Not using Instagram for anything ever in any way whatsoever."

what, you don't want fake friends fake liking your fake glamorous vacation photos?

Don’t even have fake friends it’s a lot of just crap on there now. Far cry from when it was just friends and family

I've had it blocked at my DNS for years because I got tired of my eardrums being blown out every time I clicked a link because Instagram didn't (or still doesn't) have a volume slider for desktop.

I decided to delete mine today. I could not stand the homophobia I'm seeing this month, and the only reason I'm there is for drag queens,, so I'll just watch Drag Race instead.

I feel like we’re at the age of the internet where a strong minority (see: Lemmy users) care deeply about all the ugly exploitative and anti-consumer nature of big tech, but the vast majority of the population just… doesn’t care… and shrugs off (and enables) the continual downward spiral.

The vast majority has learned helplessness and submissiveness. It's not that they don't care, they've just been beaten down over time.

I've seen it. It's almost like a form of ADHD training. Make sure the person's attention is never on something for too long, and make sure the attention snaps to whatever ad pops up.

"ADHD training", that's the perfect way to put it.

It’s about time Instagram enshittifies in a grotesque way, grotesque enough for people to realize it’s shit (because it’s enshittified).

It's a big corpo site with a bunch of normal people using it. Theirs no hope in them leaving no matter how bad it gets because "mai friends are all on it".

When I deleted my Instagram, I was initially hesitant because "my friends were all on it." But when none of them ever spoke to me again outside of Instagram, I understood that they were not friends.

Which is good that you know now.

Not being on social media has helped me connect with friends more if anything, when i meet them irl they can tell me about their vacation, their new dog etc. because i didnt see it. Interacting with friends got human again and not a "yep seen that on fb" conversationkiller.

I also do not ever miss any of the people who i thought were important to keep touch with. Because i got their phone number and they got mine we COULD contact each other. But guess what we dont.

Yeah, I don’t want to see how my loved ones’ lives are going, I want them to tell me

For being part of meta, Instagram is relatively good (Instagram let's you pause suggested post, can easily modify your algorithm by telling it what not to show or what to show, can skip ads, for now, and it's the best way to see good tik toks without going to that site), so it was just a matter of time it got enshitified

I wonder what they'll do with WhatsApp next

I use Instagram to post animal pictures. Any time I try to "browse" I see an ad every third post and give up.

I dropped Instagram, and couldn't be happier to have left that cesspool behind. No Facebook, no Instagram, no Tik Tok, no Snapchat, no LinkedIn, no no no. I'm done with the bullshit. Need to contact me? Then you probably already have my phone number, text or call. Don't have my number? Sounds like you probably don't need to get in touch with me, then.

I dropped Instagram, and couldn’t be happier to have left that cesspool behind. No [...] LinkedIn, [...]

Unfortunately not having any presence on LinkedIn makes it quite challenging to find professional-type jobs. :/

Wait, is that why I struggle with this? I’m an engineer and I just don’t really get non-forum style social media. I can kinda grok tumblr, but lemmy/reddit is really all I’m good at

Tons of job listings have barely any presence outside of LinkedIn. And yeah, quite often employers will want to see some kind of professional something online.

How are you going to know how to vote if you don't listen to MAGA spam in car crash/police shooting comment sections?

Is there a FOSS Instagram? I miss just having a simple "photo diary" to share with friends and family.

Aww, NOT open source…


Cara took off in the past few days

Oh yeah this artist I like dipped out for Cara but he didn't seem to suggest it was really an Instagram replacement.

"Testing" in case they decide they don't like money after all.

They test to verify if the user retention drop is worth the revenue increase.

Oh. Oh well, time to drop insta - not like it's been particularly good in... Ever?

I've been testing unskippable "Insta Breaks" lasting countable to uncountable infinity seconds, disrupting literally nobody.

Honestly I used Vanced patches to get rid of ads in Insta and thought I'd finally actually browse the app for once, but then I just never did.

This won't affect me - seeing as I have no use for Instagram - but I do worry that some actual DECENT sites will adopt this in the near future.

Ha ha! I don't use Instagram nor have I any interest in it whatsoever.

Every time something gets objectively worse there are always people who say "Jokes on them I don't use that!" and miss the point.

Like yeah, we get it. It's only a matter of time until this kind of bullshit reaches something you do use. You should still be bothered by this.

I’ll either put my phone down for those three to five seconds or just force close the app. I don’t care about IG that much.

That's cool. I'm also testing some stuff myself. For instance, I'm testing not uploading fake pictures of fake happiness and uploading them to receive fake praise from my fake friends. Going good so far. User feedback is 100% positive.

Always be bringing in ever-increasing amounts of revenue.

The tiktok ban is paying off much more than just repressing the truth in palestine. That monopoly privilege. $$$