just to get it out of the way: yes, i know i can use a spam email/phone number. yes, i know i can opt out of promotional emails/texts. that doesn’t make it any less frustrating. i don’t need a growing list of empty accounts for websites i only spend an hour (or less) browsing through. don’t even get me started on restaurants that ask for your phone number when you scan their QR code…
This. Also, when I use Firefox, uBlock Origin (or when I use Safari, Wipr2) usually blocks these prompts, so I don’t see them as much. When I do see them, I just go elsewhere.
when google asks me to prove i’m human, I go to DDG
this is the exact reason I switched the default on my phone to ddg
it’s usually slightly worse (which is shocking with how bad Google itself has gotten) but good enough. “don’t annoy me” is my lowest baseline
Try something like Degoog or Startpage, you might like them
thanks for the recc’s!
Of course, glad to help!
Hint: you can eliminate a step by not using Google’s products.
Waterfox has been working well for me so far