Out of Bound

Covert advertising and its takeover of social media

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

You are not immune to advertising.

It’s through no fault of your own, either. Advertisers figured out quite some time ago that natural sounding promotion from people that viewers are familiar with are more effective than regular, billboard-on-the-wall advertisements. Thus, advertisements like YouTube sponsorships and Instagram influencer promotion posts came to be. These, at least, are required to be disclosed to the viewer. But when this conclusion is pulled to its logical extreme, it can result in a type of advertising called covert advertising. Covert advertising is undisclosed advertising that tries to pass itself off as genuine praise about a product or service.

Why & how to make a personal website

Sun, 02 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why bother?

The main goal of social media is convenience. You don’t need to worry about the technical details, and you don’t need to worry about the layout of the page. All you need to do is find something to post and hope it makes its way to people who are interested in it. This sounds good in theory. But, when these statements are flipped, it becomes clear that you pay for this convenience. You do not fully know how the social media you use works. Even if you have some understanding, there are still parts that are intentionally hidden from you, such as how the algorithm ranks what posts to show you and what posts get you falsely marked as a spammer. You cannot control the layout of your own profile. God forbid you want your cool art to not be so compressed and ugly!

The consequences of Chromebook usage in education

Sat, 18 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Welcome to Out of Bound’s very first post! Out of Bound aims to analyze the effects of modern tech companies to help you break free from their consequences. If you want to learn more about where you’ve landed, you can read more about this site’s motives and technical details here. But, with this being a first post, I feel the most fitting thing to write about is the object that inspired this site to come to be in the first place: Chromebooks.

RSS is fantastic!

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

…Why are you here?! This isn’t done yet!!

Privacy Policy

Thu, 07 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

(Last updated: 06/19/2026)

This privacy policy describes how and why data is accessed, collected, stored, used, shared, or otherwise processed while using the services of outofbound.net.

Out of Bound does not collect any user information by default.

If a user chooses to monetarily support the site, data is collected through Stripe, an external service. In this case, user data is stored according to Stripe’s policy, which can be viewed here: https://stripe.com/privacy. All payment information is handled and stored by Stripe, which collects your name, credit card information, and contact information. Out of Bound does not share this data with any other parties, and will only use it for tax and accounting purposes. If the user chooses to provide either their name, username, website, or any combination of these when donating to the site, this data will be stored and the information will then be listed in the publicly viewable supporter section of the website. If the user wishes for this data to be removed, they must email nat@outofbound.net to request removal. They do not need to provide a reason or justification. Removal will be completed within 30 days.

About Out of Bound

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hello, dear reader! Welcome to Out of Bound. This is a site dedicated to analyzing and understanding the effects of modern tech companies, and provides detailed guides to support those trying to break free from social media, proprietary software, and unfair technology. I believe that it is unproductive to report on bad news without offering an alternative, so Out of Bound’s primary focus is on reader education to let you make informed decisions on how to use technology.

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Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Support the site!

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Out of Bound needs user support!

If you enjoy Out of Bound or find anything on it to be useful, consider supporting the site! Donations can currently be made through here. You can donate as much or as little as you would like. If you would like to be added to the supporters section, feel free to include or email me your preferred name (either username or real name, whatever you prefer) and, if you have one, a personal website!

The Company Shitlist

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

(HEY, IF YOU’RE HERE, THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS. YOU WOULDN’T BE PEEKING, WOULD YOU? :>)

There are lots of troublesome companies. Many attempts have been made to list and detail unethical companies, but this list is most influenced by Richard Stallman’s intensely detailed lists of unethical practices of companies, as well as Louis Rossmann’s hardware-focused Consumer Rights Wiki.

The goal of this list is to give you a brief overview of the concerning practices of a company when they relate to unethical, negligent, or exploitative uses of technology, and to give you sources to learn more. It is not meant to be detailed, but it does aim to hit the most important points of why a company may be unethical.