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by nix0n 971 days ago
> don't use sites/services that show them ads

Cable TV shows ads. Spotify Premium shows ads. Paramount Plus shows ads.

Roads have ads (billboards), but so do the subways.

Even paperback books often have an ad in the back for the next book in the series.

If you think it is possible to avoid ads, it is because you are so surrounded by ads that you are tuning them out.

1 comments

Cable TV shows ads. Spotify Premium shows ads. Paramount Plus shows ads.

I don't use those services. Problem solved. See how simple that is?

Roads have ads (billboards), but so do the subways.

Sure, that is a problem. But I don't consider a roadside billboard to be a "website or service" as I mentioned in my original post. So, I don't see how that comparison applies.

If you think it is possible to avoid ads...

I didn't say it was possible to avoid all ads, I asked why are you using a service if you don't like the service itself? Just don't use it. You haven't stated why you feel that's so difficult to do.

Because they're a monopoly. Finding creators without using YouTube is very hard, at least for me. It's hard even inside YT.

But most creators are exclusively on YT because that's the only choice that matters.

There is Nebula now that does have some nice content, but they're orders of magnitude smaller (plus their UX is very rough) so it's hard to even call them a competitor.

That's why monopolies - capitalism's inevitable end goal - destroy everything they touch. In order to argue "you can choose to not do X" requires the choice part to be true. Sure, we can argue people can completely forego X. But that's basically a nuclear option that even if they wanted to do, will be hard. People will still send you YouTube links.

One example of this is WhatsApp. I hate it and don't want to support Meta, but 100% of my peers use it so I have to use it.

Having said all that, when YouTube starts to price hike subscriptions and/or showing ads even for paying users (inevitable because of profits), I'll force myself to stop using it.

> why people just don't use sites/services that show them ads

The point I'm trying to make is that everything shows ads.

Most content is only available on services that show ads.

How do you consume media?