Stress-free Surfing in the Classroom with this Awesome App!

So a friend of mine was trying to show me a funny video of a man arguing with a dog on YouTube, but of course a video ad pops up before we can view the content.  That's when he says, "What? You don't have AdBlock? Have you been living under a rock?"  Well, I hadn't heard of AdBlock or Adblock Plus (which is what I ended up downloading), but I wasn't too offended because this friend was also 10 years younger than me, and every time I use technology in front of him, I can feel the breadth of our generation gap.   Kind of like how I feel when my dad asks me to to sign-up for things online on his behalf, because he still doesn't use email. 

ANYWAYS, I install Ad-block Plus and BOOM all the video ads are gone.  Not only on YouTube but everywhere!  It even blocks the annoying ads at the top of my Gmail account that look like emails but are advertisements, and the little banners that show up at the bottom of YouTube videos.

If your school computer allows you to download this app, I would do it, just to avoid any sketchy situations.  I know sometimes I'll leave a video of an orchestra playing and then it's interrupted by an ad for a new movie that has me running to the computer. 

I don't recommend using it on all computers, because these ads fund sites which allows them to remain free.  However, as educators, our jobs and reputations are on the line whenever a ad that we cannot screen beforehand pops up in front of our students. Not all ads will be blocked, but a majority of them will, especially video ads.  Some ads that are deemed less obtrusive and annoying will occasionally appear.

So AdBlock Plus's software is free, but there is an opportunity to donate to this open source software project, after downloading.  I use Chrome to surf the web, so I installed AdBlock for Chrome, and a little, red button at the top of my browser appeared that will tell me how many ads were blocked on the website that I'm on.  

USEFUL LINKS

AdBlock Plus

Adblock Explained as Fast as Possible 

Man and husky argue over stolen potato skin