Web Browser

Use Firefox. Chrome is developed by an ad company. Ad companies are interested in showing you ads, not giving you a good experience. For example, Chrome is now intentionally making ad blockers work less well. Firefox is the only major web browser that is not developed primarily by an ad company. You should use it. It works on all desktop operating systems and on Android. Get Firefox here.

Install uBlock Origin. uBlock Origin is an ad and content blocker. It will get rid of ads and make the web much more usable. Get uBlock Origin here. If you are stuck on iOS with their garbage Safari browser, then find and install an ad blocker for iOS.

Pay for things you like. If you enjoy the output of someone else’s labor, then you should compensate them for that work, if they provide a way for you to do that. Start a paid subscription on news websites you read, sign up to support creators monetarily on Patreon, pay for services that give you an ad-free option. This is will help ensure you can continue enjoying these works and services, especially if you are not giving them ad views thanks to your ad blocker.

Enable uBlock Origin’s Cookies and Annoyances filters. These will get rid of those stupid cookie acceptance popups, email beg popups, and other similar crap. To enable these filters, head into your uBlock Origin settings (Firefox’s hamburger menu -> Extensions and Themes -> uBlock Origin’s hamburger menu -> Preferences) and enable the EasyList items underneath the “Cookie notices” and “Annoyances” headings.

Use an RSS reader. RSS feeds are a way for websites to let you know when they have new stuff for you to read. You can use an RSS reader to subscribe to websites, and then open up the reader to see if any of your websites have new content to read. No social media algorithms putting junk in your face, just the content you came there to read. I personally use (and pay for) Feedly, but there are many choices you can find with a web search.

Disable autoplaying media. I hate it when videos play on their own accord. Firefox has a setting to stop this. In Settings, choose the Privacy & Security tab, and scroll down to Permissions. Choose the Settings for Autoplay and set the default for all websites to Block. I also like to disable animated images, which you may do by navigating to “about:config” and setting “image.animation_mode” to “none”.

(Advanced) Use the Kill Sticky tool. The Kill Sticky bookmarklet removes all of the “sticky” elements on webpages, which are the stupid, useless, floating things that cover up the content you actually want to view. Read more about the Kill Sticky tool here.

(Advanced) Install NoScript. NoScript blocks all JavaScript by default, but allows you to add scripts downloaded from certain domains to an allowlist. As you build up your allowlist, the websites you visit regularly will just work, and websites you don’t visit will have their scripts blocked until you allow them. It’s kind of a chore, but I find it worth it because it prevents websites from doing stupid things like disallowing right-clicking, interfering with copy-paste, showing time wasting fade-in animations, and so on. It’s up to you if this one is worth the hassle. Get NoScript here.

YouTube

Remove bad videos from your watch history. If you’ve ever watched a video someone linked you, and now your recommendations are full of stuff related to that video and you don’t want to see that kind of content, you can fix it. Find your History page (eg “History” tab on the left on desktop, or click your profile icon in the mobile app), and delete the video from your history. It will no longer influence your recommendations.

Block channels you don’t like. If you get recommendations for content from a creator you don’t like, you can tell YouTube not to show you them. Click the hamburger menu next to the video title and choose “Don’t recommend this channel.”

Social Media

Stop. Use social media such as BlueSky or Instagram or Facebook or Elon Musk’s X as little as possible. If you’re using them more than about 15 minutes per day, you’re using them too much. These things are poison, designed to waste your time, make you feel like shit, and hate other people, because that is what gives them the most usage time and ad views. You have better and more fun things to do with your time on this Earth. Don’t install the apps. Strongly consider deleting your accounts. Your life is worth more than this.