Fuck Ads

i don't mind ads but fuck ads. people like me ran away from cable tv for good reasons. internet tv saved us from:

• excessive ads
• limited programming
• limited interactivity
• limited control
• rising cost

but that past is upon us again.

for a short while, i got to enjoy a free Internet. and then came the pop ups, intrusive ads, and non-usuable recipe sites.

but was it truly free? digital made it easier for governments and corporations to track and monitor me. i became products of products; i traded away rights to my identities; i gave up privacy in exchange for convenience. the fingerprint of my entire existence online combined with yours is now supposedly worth more than that of oil.

is free worth it? true freedom cannot exist without privacy. the carefree childhood of flash games, silly memes, and videos shared with friends and strangers on online communities is gone. the joy of stumbling across something exciting is hard to come by again. the novelty of the Internet died with the rise of ads, paywalls, plus subscriptions, blue checks, and rising costs.

is it free? the free Internet. the freedom to explore and interact with a new world. the adventures yet to be had. and then a group of men in black showed up and wanted me to forget what i had wasn't as good as what they can offer me for a small fee. their subtle attempt at carrot and stick worked. surprisingly , i don't want free stuff anymore.

i had my privacy for free, but now i pay to keep my privacy. it feels good to pay premium for what i should've had since the beginning. it's strange to think what i originally had now comes with a fee. does this mean if i blink, i will lose more than time?

what went wrong? i know the damage is done. internet tv is dead, replaced by cable tv, centralized and controlled by the few, back to the past but my enemy is equipped with far superior capability and sophisticated weaponry at its disposal to abuse me, gaslight me, and make me love every sec of it.

i played my role. i cast my attention. i signed my soul to the devil; it knows enough about me to control my habits, likes and dislikes, behaviors, and buying decisions.

but when did i let it? ads fucked radio, fucked cable tv, fucked internet tv. now it's primed to fuck the next big idea.

anyhow, I'm going on a tangent. my concern is that cable tv is coming for internet tv, social media tv, and chat tv. soon, we'll come full circle:

• excessive ads
• limited programming
• limited interactivity
• limited control
• rising cost

I think ad is the main culprit. it steers monetization one way. the direction it's headed is not aligned with healthy incentives, and user experience. i get the allure of free. but that doesn't stop me from feeling like ads is costing me something bigger I'd regret one day when i had the choice.

thank you ads for paying my bills.

but fuck you.