I just tried to look up a specific video of a Nick Swardson stand up bit. All I searched was “Nick Swardson loitering”. There were 5 fucking ads before an actual user posted video, then one real human posted video that barely had anything to do with Nick, then 5 more fucking ads.
I knew they were forcing ads into videos but clogging the entire search feed with ads is unfuckingbelievable.
Is this really what it’s come to? Ads are more important than what I’m actually looking for? Are people really okay with this?
I get it, some things are not easily replaceable. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take active steps to cut ties. The biggest steps for me was uninstalling the obnoxious default install on my phone and subscribing to an actual music service.
Going to youtube isn’t taboo, for me, just with the app un-installed I have to make the conscious decision to browse the site. The site is also much less convenient; making the experience mostly untenable. People existed before youtube and will exist after. The point isn’t to cripple them but to hit them hard enough so they can reflect on their dopamine pushing business practices.
I wonder what the ethical considerations are, given a choice between ad blocking on YouTube, and copying YT content to PeerTube. Is it sooooo much worse? Is it any worse?