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We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]

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Re: We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]

#91

Post by passwordoops »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #77
antfarm wrote: post #28

My way to circumvent most of this: I am using Safari with AdBlock Pro and AdBlock and see zero ads when browsing the web. I spend more time on YouTube than I care to admit, so I got a Premium subscription, bought an extension called UnTrap for YouTube to hide most recommendations and turned off all YouTube history etc. I regularly visit BlueSky, Hacker News and YouTube, but not X, TikTok, Instagram or Facebook. The h…

I’m hopeful browsers with LLM support are the future of ad blocking for users. This enables robust and sophisticated control by users of their experience.

Perplexity strongly disagrees

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/24/perplexity-ceo-says-its-br...

Re: We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]

#92

Post by financypants »

antfarm wrote: post #28

My way to circumvent most of this: I am using Safari with AdBlock Pro and AdBlock and see zero ads when browsing the web. I spend more time on YouTube than I care to admit, so I got a Premium subscription, bought an extension called UnTrap for YouTube to hide most recommendations and turned off all YouTube history etc. I regularly visit BlueSky, Hacker News and YouTube, but not X, TikTok, Instagram or Facebook. The h…

Untrap is amazing. On top of that, things like removing all apps from my home screen and turning of almost all notifications has improved my focus and my life a lot.

Re: We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]

#93

Post by grumbel »

antfarm wrote: post #35
lukev wrote: post #33

Half the comments here are just pointing out that ad blockers exist, which is missing the point. The damage of an advertising-based internet economy is not limited to just "seeing ads." The entire content and structure of the internet is warped around this economy. Search engines, SEO, content discovery mechanisms, types and variety of content... all could have been different and better.

But how are you going to change that?

Give every Internet user a domain name and routable IP for free with their Internet account.

That won't magically fix all the problems in an instant, but the core of everything wrong with the Internet starts with the Internet being separated into consumers and providers, instead of being a true peer2peer network.

Even in the olden days of the Internet when ISPs would give you free webspace with your Internet account, you still didn't get your own domain name, meaning all your Web presence would bust when you switched providers.

Alternatively, get Freenet, IPFS/IPNS or any of the other distributed alternatives working, but after 25 years of people trying, I kind of given up hope of it ever happening.

Re: We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]

#95

Post by xyst »

Blame corporate greed for this never ending cycle of (human/psychological/and physical) exploitation in the name of pRoFiT.

A companion presentation to the OP is "Beware, fellow plutocrats, the pitchforks are coming" by Nick Haneaur in 2014 —- https://www.ted.com/talks/nick_hanauer_beware_fellow_plutocr...

He has also been running a podcast called "Pitchfork Economics" which I have found to be very enlightening on the state of this world. From an economics point of view, it explains the enshittification of many services we once enjoyed, the destruction of the middle class.

The past 40+ years of policy based on “reagonomics”/“trickle down economics”, neoclassical/neoliberal economicsc and psuedoscience from the Chicago School of Economics (ie, Milton Friedman) represents the worst era of America.

Re: We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]

#96

Post by latency-guy2 »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #72
antfarm wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But how are you going to change that?

Step 1: remove Section 230 protection for algorithmically-elevated content. If you're going to have attention-mining addiction-creating software funnel people into rabbit holes, then those rabbit holes need to be verified, safe-to-consume stuff. Watching 5 hours of 5 minute crafts is at worst, going to make someone spend too much money at Hobby Lobby. Certainly not good, but a workable issue. Watching 5 hours of whit…

How is that a "step 1" when thats describing something else entirely?

How much would you pay to own an account on social media? If your answer is $0 then you're not addressing anything, you just want someone else to subsidize your entertainment and you want to call the shots on top.

I don't work for free, and I know damn well neither do you.

Re: We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]

#97

Post by dijit »

poetworrier wrote: post #49

I accepted cookies, watched an ad, dismissed a popup for a newsletter to watch a video about ads. That really nails it.

The funny thing is that we fought so hard against pop-ups throughout the 90's and 2000's only to re-implement pop-ups in javascript as soon as we could.

Re: We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]

#98

Post by dilyevsky »

ujkhsjkdhf234 wrote: post #90

I have been groaning about income inequality a lot but it is amazing how much of this can be explained by it. People do not have the disposable income to spend on services so you make people pay with attention. Give them the carrot for free so they don't notice. On top of that, the product is free so there is no expectation of support for the end user. You're getting it for free so what are you complaining about?

What would be the point of showing an ad to someone without disposable income?

Re: We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]

#99

Post by Nursie »

dijit wrote: post #97
poetworrier wrote: post #49

I accepted cookies, watched an ad, dismissed a popup for a newsletter to watch a video about ads. That really nails it.

The funny thing is that we fought so hard against pop-ups throughout the 90's and 2000's only to re-implement pop-ups in javascript as soon as we could.

At least, generally, they no longer open hundreds of windows above or below the current window, which may or may not have browser control bars, may ‘warn’ on exit etc etc

If a page wants to cover itself in noise and dialogues, sure it’s annoying but it’s not quite on the same level as back then.

Re: We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]

#100

Post by catigula »

ujkhsjkdhf234 wrote: post #90

I have been groaning about income inequality a lot but it is amazing how much of this can be explained by it. People do not have the disposable income to spend on services so you make people pay with attention. Give them the carrot for free so they don't notice. On top of that, the product is free so there is no expectation of support for the end user. You're getting it for free so what are you complaining about?

People definitely have disposable income. They can, and are willing, to go into even non-trivial amounts of debt if you're good enough.

The goal is extracting your portion of it via social engineering and other mechanisms available to you.

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