[imoverclocked]

> do you consider HN to be social media?

Yes, because I read/interact with comments. It's possible to just peruse headlines in which case it's less social.

> YT in particular has a tendency to draw me into endless shorts holes

Yeah, especially since there are no horrendous ads. YT on my AppleTV has become unwatchable with minutes of ads for minutes of content.

[neilellis]

YT: Yep the only pay-for-no-adds that I gave in to.

[svachalek]

I've taken the position that if something is too expensive without ads, it's too expensive for me. My life is blissfully, nearly entirely, ad free. The only downside is I'm an alien on my own planet, blind to the continuous swamp of advertising everyone around me lives in.

[verdverm]

I feel you on that, I almost never see ads and don't know how people subjugate themselves to it (by not running an ad blocker of any kind, nor paying to remove ads)