Adverts are a theft of time and attention, they are manipulative brainwashing by companies with more resources than the majority of countries.

Ads are fine. I've discovered so many fantastic products through them (did my research before buying, of course.)

And they are also the only business model we have been able to think of that enables the free flow of information on the scale we see today. Unless governments step up to foot the bill for Maps, YouTube, Reddit, etc, ads are all we've got.

I've never seen an ad that "stole" my time and attention. They are easy to scroll past and/or ignore. If an ad is stealing someone's time and attention, perhaps they need to work on their concentration and discipline instead of blaming the ad.

Oh, ok. So next time I get one of those full page ads that darkens the entire page - I should just concentrate really hard at reading the barely visible content. Maybe it will go away if I scroll really really fast.

This is the fault of the web developer and designers, not advertisers. Let's be clear on who to blame.

Blame can lie on multiple parties.

Companies don't spend $1000 a year to advertise to you unless they get a decent rate of return.