Oy. Ok, let's see if I can unpack all of this. First of all, "TV" (the medium itself, not merely the physical box that delivers the content), was created
by advertisers. That is its sole purpose and always has been. Iow, it isn't that people are out there making media and hoping one day TV will turn toward them and make their dreams come true. The advertisements
are "TV," it is the shows in between the advertisements that are, ironically, the advertisements
for "TV." Get it? It is exactly the opposite of what it appears to be and that's for a reason; that's part of the way the shows serve to advertise for TV.
This is why McLuhan famously intoned that the medium
is the message. Iow, what you should have said is, "Programs on TV ads? Ok, fair enough, the media producers need to make money."
There is. There are several in fact. There is the "unsubscribe" function in all such emails and in regard to your physical address you can have it unlisted and in regard to targeting your internet search, that's all to do with "cookies" which you can clear or prevent and any number of different filters you can apply and other ways in which you can shut that shit down.
Number ONE on that list is just to never ever ever buy from any such place and give them bad reviews online (ironically).
Is it deliberately a pain in the ass? Yes. Will it stop it
ALL? No. Because it
works sufficiently enough times to make it worth while, it is continued, but there are most definitely ways for you to proactively shut out most if not all.
But then, don't ever ever ever use even ONE discount or promotion code or any other thing that could ever be tied to something you clicked on or read online, because if you ever do, you're wrong and they were right. And you have, of course, done this many hundreds of times by now, if not thousands. You just don't either realize it or pay much attention to it. Bought something on Amazon? Then you bought into the system you're railing against.
You can't participate
at all and then complain about all the other shit that comes along with it.
I also find the advertising industry listening to us via the microphones
They aren't. Apple is and then selling that data to marketers, but advertisers themselves are not unless you download a particular app that in turn requests that it access your microphone (or otherwise has that set to a default which you can then go in and turn off).
I'm at a point where I shut my phone off just out of principle.
Wise choice and proactive and problem solved.
This is just like the old woman and the snake. You knew it was a snake before you picked it up, so it's on you when you get bit.
Caveat emptor didn't just magically go away one day. It's
always the maxim, because people fucking suck and will always try to fleece you. Welcome to Earth.