You can disable this as a browser setting in some browsers (like Chrome). It was driving me nuts until I figured out I could just flip a global flag for it.
There's probably a better way, but I use this graphical element zapper from Ublock Origin to hide distracting elements.
Works wonders for sites that I visit regularly. StackOverflow: Do I need related posts? The left sidebar (whatever it is they have there, I have forgotten already)? Their footer?