If I could press a button and remove money from the internet, I'd do it in a heartbeat.
I absolutely do enjoy content that is financed through ads. I really, REALLY do like some of the stuff, honest. But it is also the case that the internet has been turning into a marketing hellscape for the last couple decades, we've gotten to a point in which engagement is optimized to such a degree that society itself is hurting from it. Politically and psychologically. The damage is hard to quantify, yet I can't fathom the opportunity cost not being well into the billions.
I absolutely do enjoy content that is financed through ads. I really, REALLY do like some of the stuff, honest. But it is also the case that the internet has been turning into a marketing hellscape for the last couple decades, we've gotten to a point in which engagement is optimized to such a degree that society itself is hurting from it. Politically and psychologically. The damage is hard to quantify, yet I can't fathom the opportunity cost not being well into the billions.
We'd be better off without that.