I read only one subreddit still and it is Am I The Asshole, it is very easy to spot the ads because only one add matches the format of the posts. Anything that doesn’t start with AITA is an ad.
That gives me way more time to read books that I have been putting off. Starting with a few books by Cory Doctorow who coined that term enshittification.
It is a lot easier to make time for reading when watching a video will mean an ad before, during, and after every 5 minute clip. I subscribe to a few news shows so I can listen to them as podcasts while I work to support without having ads.
There are solutions for all of these issues. You can use alternative frontends like Invidious or Piped, dedicated desktop apps like FreeTube or NewPipe and Libretube on Android to access YouTube without ads or tracking. You can also use throwaway email addresses to access websites that demand your email and there are privacy frontends for most social media sites (e.g. Libreddit for the site that shouldn’t be named, Nitter for the other site that shouldn’t be named, Proxitok for Tiktok, Proxigram for Instagram, etc.)
It’s mostly people who refuse to stop using these services who ruin it for those who don’t. I think the solution is to make slick, idiot-proof and easy alternatives with sexy UIs so even the most insta, TikTok, YouTube addicted person wants to switch over. There’s no solution to monetization or ads which doesn’t fuck the experience of the alternative solution. Creating, instilling and appealing to an ideology will also help conversions.
That said, if you like someone’s content, then there’s nothing inherently wrong with you hoping for that person to be paid for it. Forcing ads is such a disgusting move, but any reasonable person wouldn’t mind paying to not to watch ads—there’s a cost to infrastructure maintenance that needs to be met, so it’s understandable. But I’d rather pay to a non-profit or utility.
In general, everyone should oppose big tech monopolies, and ask their politicians to legislate against them. Monopolies are the biggest threats to democracy.
No such problems, I don’t use pages which need an account to see the content, or I skip the account Popup, YT without ads and trackers, with extensions or front-ends, fast page loading because blocking all this crap. But yes, free internet is becoming more and more distant since large corporations dominate it with their conditions, if they continue like this, soon you will only be browsing the internet with your ID and credit card and the webcam on.
I’ve heard something to the effect that approximately 80% of all internet traffic passes through Facebook and Google. Unfortunately I can’t find anything to substantiate that claim but it’s sounds plausible.
I remember the early internet. It was a wild place but at least it was fair and balanced. Now every click on every page is designed to serve the for profit attention economy. Kinda sucks in comparison.
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