A bad side effect of this is that when I do hear ads or see a TV it's really, really difficult to filter it out.

That brings to the forefront a feeling that I have noticed in the back of my mind recently: I notice ads that many people don't since I've tried to de-advertise my content consumption. Hulu/Spotify ads breaking up episodes/songs annoy me more than ever, perhaps increasing this cascading failure that the article features.

As for billboards and other "in your face" advertising, i'd love to see it disappear, but there is one important factor that differentiates it from explicit tv, youtube, and radio ads: there isn't an explicit opportunity cost between their presence and the activity you're usually partaking in. So if you have you're attention elsewhere, they won't capture it and stop you partaking in the activity you're actually doing.

Indeed, my mind has gotten so good at unconsciously filtering out those ads, I can't honestly say I see them. But then, I'm the kind of guy who will walk past a new store I'm not interested in for 6 months before someone else has to inform me it exists.

Now, i'm not naive, I know that there's bloggers and newspaper articles and product placement (and all the more reason to stop reading the ones that deliberately do it), but its like junk food.

Ok, maybe you can't get it down to zero. But you sure as hell can try to cut it back to a minimum, and its good to do so...

Broadcast TV: I skip ads with a DVR

Aps: As long as the ad is a tiny banner that doesn't pop in front of the screen, it's okay.