Forgiving Ethan Zuckerman: A Reflection on Internet Pop-ups
A few years ago, Ethan Zuckerman asked for forgiveness from the world. As you're also part of this world, have you forgiven him? He was the person behind creating pop-up advertisements on the internet. You open a website, a blog, a magazine, or a program, and suddenly a window pops up with an advertisement running. This is what we call a pop-up.
You get irritated. Anger rises as instead of the advertisement, you search for that tiny cross hidden in the corner. Sometimes you don't even find it, and then you resort to clicking on "skip ad." When will this advertisement satisfy you enough to let you enjoy your preferred program?
Now, if you were told that the programmer behind these ads has asked for forgiveness from you, would you forgive them? Could forgiveness bring back the countless valuable moments you've lost? These pop-ups are like unwanted guests in our lives. They interfere with many of our activities.
In the internet world, there's an ongoing battle between these advertisements and users. People search for ways to get rid of these intrusive ads. Browser settings are changed. We're not computer programmers, so we wait for someone to create a program that can eliminate these pop-ups for us.
However, we are the programmers of our lives. No one from outside will come to clear the roles, occupations, and thoughts imposed by these pop-ups. We have to do it ourselves. Ethan Zuckerman wasted our time to make money and then asked for forgiveness. But will we ask for forgiveness for wasting our own time? And will we forgive ourselves?
