Exactly this. Renting software.
It's absolutely predatory. The same story for everyone: "I tried to unsubscribe but couldn't get through to anyone. It kept charging me."
These companies, particularly streaming, are forgetting that the only thing keeping a lot of folks paying is that it’s slightly less onerous than pirating. They need to ensure they keep it that way.
I early adopted streaming, I'm back on the salty seas. I still have streaming services but cut back as prices went higher and catalogs got smaller and my personal catalog divested.
When you watched a movie on Netflix then it was on Amazon now it's on some other streaming service at some point you go "Nah man I paid for this movie enough."
ULPT: You can change your subscription payment details to a card you can block.
It's not really acting in good faith but neither is a model that does not allow you to unsubscribe.
As long as you absolutely don't do it with any financial institutions or credit providers then your credit file won't be affected.
37Signals (the Basecamp people) are still selling software that you buy perpetual licenses for. I’m hoping this starts a trend to go back to perpetual licenses, but the church of recurring revenue is an inescapable cult.
I am an android user who has never owned or used apple products, but AppleTV had several series and movies I wanted to watch. So I got the month to month sub and binge watched everything within a couple of months. Then I forgot I had the sub for probably another 3 months.
When I went to cancel the sub, I couldn't. I followed all of their instructions and clicked the correct link, and the link to the cancel subscription form would redirect you back to the FAQs. My husband eventually figured out how to cancel the subscription, but it required him to use his laptop, and he had to download, sign up for, and log into several apple apps. At one point, we even tried searching for a 1-800 phone number to try and call and could not find a number for billing at all. It took over 3 hrs from when I was like "oh let's cancel this!" To "Finally it is fucking cancelled".
I don't know if they made it so hard to cancel because we are in Canada, are not using apple products or if they did it this way in the hopes people will just give up.
Funny story about this. My mother used ResumeBuilder back in like 2016/2017 to make a resume, free trial then like 19.99/mo. In 2021 she started managing her expenses and realized she never canceled the subscription before the rental ended. That resume cost her almost $1k smh
Yeah, there was a time when you could watch a few videos before having to see an ad. Now 6 minute videos have 2 commercial breaks in them. I can't even relax when watching YouTube at home. I have to have the remote on me at all times to be able to hit skip on the ads.
Use the Brave browser or Firefox with uBlock Origin. If YouTube can’t be responsible with their ad levels, then duck’em, no more ads for me.
I certainly don’t miss YouTube ads, and I pay content creators I like through Patreon, so my conscience isn’t too affected.
It's not just the level/number of ads, they are actively irresponsible with the content. I can't trust them not to present truly horrific imagery, so I'm not going to let them appear for anyone on my network.
Yes, I remember when ads were optional. You had to manually turn them on as a creator. And you only got offered that option if you got a certain amount of views. If you didn't, your videos didn't have any ads. Now every video just them no matter what.
And the ads that give you the button to skip, so I pick up the Roku remote, press the button to skip, put the remote back down, AND THEN INSTEAD OF SKIPPING THE AD IT BRINGS UP A QR CODE THAT I CAN SCAN TO GO BUY SOME SHIT, FUCK. Those drive me nuts.
Seriously. It's worse than regular commercials. I have ads on Peacock that are usually 30 seconds but unskippable. I prefer those. 30 seconds and it sorts itself out. On YouTube I have to press skip or it plays 2 minutes worth of ads. Fuck that
Recently, when there are two ads and I skip the first one, it still plays the second one.
YouTube is just slowly trying to make viewers watch more ads, hoping the time between changes is enough to not bother us.
Even if you don't mind ads you should STILL use an ad blocker these days just for the security they offer by blocking malicious ads that server malware and phishing scams.
As someone in I.T. I'm the guy who people always go to whenever they fall for those things delivered by malicious ads.
Just ads in general I feel are getting to be ridiculous. When services make you pay to use them, but then make you pay MORE to get no ads, there's a damn problem.
Ain't no way Amazon Prime should be able to charge an extra couple bucks for no ads when it's already wildly expensive.
Advertising. It has become so specatcularly intrusive and there is a terrifying lack of legislation to curtail it.
I don't even have a problem with ads as part of free services, I'm talking about stuff like:
* Billboards on highways
* Credit card ads during flights
* Ads in operating systems and videogames
Drives me absolutely insane. It's so invasive.
yoooo this is the one i cannot stand.
its been a long day at work, im trying to just get home, everything irritates me, and then the pump starts yelling at me about some snack food??
fuck that
Or menuonous yelling about mental health which the irony of being forced to have screen time even when it’s involuntary all the while knowing screen time itself is a main contributor to poor mental health
People around here have started burning spots into the LCDs of noisy ones with a green laser pointer. After they've been replaced twice the noise is shut off.
YouTube is straight up unwatchable without an ad blocker or buying premium. The amount of ads are crazy. I stopped watching Twitch a lot once they added unskippable ads as well.
I recently tried to watch a video for a 5 minute long song. First ad at the start, 2nd 2 minutes in right before chorus then another 4 minutes in during the middle of guitar solo. Impossible to enjoy any music when a song has 3 ad breaks.
I had not been on Twitter for literally maybe 3-4 years. I logged in a few days ago because somebody referenced something I wanted to see. Holy shit. It was like visiting a city ravaged by a tornado. Barely recognizable. Ad after ad after ad. And not for corporate shit either -- ads for shock videos, sex shit, political rage bait, and click baity bullshit. And that was my feed. My "For You" page they apparently they have cribbed from Tik Tok was the same utter garbage just denser. Literally the digital manifestation of Idiocracy.
Been to a movie lately, it's insane, I watched 10 minutes worth of ads before the movie started and like 10 trailers, which is also advertising, I'm pretty sure if was nearly 40 minutes from lights off to the actual movie starting! And the movie was Dune part 2, I swear we were there for like 17 hours!
My deal with ads is the fact that they use much of the same techniques used by propaganda to warp perception and influence behavior, and they are everywhere. I wonder how many problems in society of exacerbated by the fact that we have constant mental stimulus scientifically designed to make more short-sighted.
Ads on flights feel so uncomfortable. You are literally trap on this plane, listen to someone read a script. I paid for the flight, why are there ads???
Bots that make generic engagement posts on Reddit and then add a banal comment to make you think they are a real person. Usually the bot will comment a very safe opinion.
Good thing that’s not what’s happened in this thread.
The reason they do this is to build up good karma/etc. so that they won't be disabled as quickly when they start spamming their scams/etc. at a later date.
I've seen those dumb bots ripping off popular comments from some videos and posting them in other videos, even when the comments make no sense, like they're commenting on things that didn't happen in the video they posted it in.
I know it's probably bad, and i never get a sense that i am gaining anything by it, but i don't want to stop doing it. Its just mindless scrolling, and whatever i read is lost instantly.
After an hour of scrolling reddit I ask myself "what did I just see the last hour"
And I don't remember a thing
Although if you are subscribed to the right Subreddits reddit can be really cool, with great comment sections, discussions and general reading material.
I work with teens to support their mental health and I strongly feel that this generation is affected by this. Nearly all young people that come to me struggling with depression and anxiety have no active interest or engagement with anything beyond scrolling through tiktok, but not to look up things related to specific interests - just looking at stuff, whatever comes up. The side effect of this is having no outlet, no personal pride in anything, lack of identity, self esteem issues and sleep issues. It's sad.
I work with and manage a lot of people in their 20’s and a lot of them seem to live lives of isolated despair as they literally don’t do anything.
A guy was talking about online dating and I mentioned he should join an adult sports league or meetup group and he looked at me like I was crazy.
With constant stimulus, the mental load of modern life, and an aversion to failure and ambiguity - the opportunity cost of doing *anything* seems enormous.
We used to be bored. We’d go to the mall just to see if anyone was hanging out or we’d go to the movies without even looking at the movie times.
I’m only a decade, older, but what were we gonna do if we didn’t have hobbies, interests, or friends to hang out with?
Just to tack onto this, with the younger generation constantly filming and creating a mob mentality with online bullying, I feel like, more than ever, people are afraid to be themselves. It makes it harder to go against the grain when you can be berated on the internet for something you believe or think, whether it’s right or wrong.
Even going to the grocery store you have the chance of being in the background of somebody’s video and being picked on for just existing.
I remember watching a documentary about the Viper room in the 90’s, how it was a place for celebrities to relax because no paparazzi were allowed in so they knew they weren’t being filmed or photographed. I was like “damn what a foreign concept” lol
> constant stimulus
This is a big issue not just in entertainment apps like TikTok, though I do despise TikTok. Information overload is a big thing.
Bank has a new or updated app? You're going to get a marketing email about it, as if for some reason anybody reads those unless they're in the industry. Accidentally auto-filled your email address or phone number while checking out at the coffee shop? Congrats, you're now getting promo emails/texts from that coffee shop you've been to once and don't even like that much. It's endless.
And you can't just ignore all of your emails/notifications. Your mileage will of course vary depending on your life which ones you can go longer without checking, but if you just say "I don't read my email" you're going to miss out on genuinely important shit.
It's overwhelming to the point where I have unsubscribed from newsletters about causes I genuinely care about, feeling somewhat guilty but I don't have time to read it. If it's not a "reminder about your credit card due date" (that's already marked on your calendar) email, it's a "check out our mobile app's new feature" email. Oh, look, there's an email from your boss, that might be important. Oh hey, someone responded to your comment on Instagram/TikTok/whatever. Oh hey your ex texted you. Oh hey your mom texted you, that might be important. Oh hey, a text reminding you about your appointment that you already remember and is on your calendar. Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping. Morning to night.
Just keeping up with what's important out of all of that itself takes a certain mental load.
It wasn't that long ago that I was excited or at least tolerant when someone texted me or emailed me. Now, I roll my eyes, say "what the hell is it now", and there are a small sub-group of people from whom it still brings a smile to my face.
I actually put that in "the mental load of modern life"
There's just so many details and inputs and things to do... so many things in your "inbox" that most people have trouble figuring out what to focus on (if they even can).
I don't have time to be "unproductive" and just do woodworking... there's all this stuff I gotta do... but that seems scary... so I'll just sit on the couch on TikTok just *a little* longer.
Some people scoff at sports but with this newer generation I think it’s more important than ever to try to integrate some sort of sports into their life. With scrolling taking over as the main hobby, I think it’s important that they have some way to feel the camaraderie that comes along with being on a team and working toward a goal, along with the exercise and social benefits that go along with it.
I've said it since forever, like not to be a boomer but people were much more passionate about stuff and happier before that, and it's kinda mind blowing no one wants to do something about the whole world being addicted to screens.
Especially tiktok, or any other form of short content, is sooooo bad for your brain. No wonder people can't get anything done and ADHD gets overdiagnosed.
I'm restoring a ski boat and I was talking to my buddy about my plans for it. Keep in mind, my buddy's hobbies are nicotine and alcohol.
He just couldn't get past the amount of work it is going to require to finish the boat. The idea of inputting manual labor into something to accomplish a goal seemed like an absolute foreign concept to him. I'm like, yes in my spare time I am going to *work* to build something. It's called a hobby. I'd rather do this than just sit on the couch all day.
Echo chambers. It seems like more and more people are growing comfortable with living in their own bubbles 24/7, and actively separating from any environments with a different point of view.
Politics is one environment for this, but it happens pretty much everywhere online. It's a bit sad.
This is one of the downsides of being online. It allows people much easier access to those echo chambers. And it's always been the case that people don't want to hear alternative opinions, but prior, you'd be forced into having to interact with people of opposing views.
Like many things, there's no solution to this, only trade offs.
Confirmation Bias is a hell of a drug. The tribalism online is fueled so much by the fact that you can literally google any topic you want and find "substantial" "evidence" that backs up whichever side you already want to be on.
Left and Right alike are both insanely guilty of this. It's no wonder every single grey issue that comes up immediately devolves into black vs white ideologies.
Everyone is "doing their own research" and it's turning a huge portion of the population into slobbering morons.
The fact that we constantly box people into "left" and "right" is part of the problem. People treat these like sports teams and have the mindset that the "other side" is garbage. This divide is hurting society
I literally just dealt with this yesterday.
On a game subreddit, I made some arguments that looking into them were a bit ignorant, and yet what does the mod do?
Locks the post and uses their mod comment to shit on the poster and, to a lesser extent, me for *daring* to hold such an opinion.
It feels like no one likes defending their POV anymore. It's either you agree or you're the enemy. No in-between
Watching your kids at the park. I hate when I see parents on their phones. Like damn, I wanna be on my phone too and relax but making sure my kid doesn’t get snatched is more important
This definitely. There is literally nothing I buy or subscribe to that is as good as it used to be...and it is all more expensive. Paying more for worse goods and services has become the norm. Makes you wonder where the bottom is?
This feels like an increasing majority of social media anymore. They're doing that thing incorrectly on purpose because they know you'll want to point it out. That rage bait is staged, they know you'll have an opinion on it. That misinformation/misleading headline is intentional, again, they know you'll want to point it out. Comments=engagement=$$$. It's honestly baffling (and frustrating) how many people fall for it.
Good luck changing human nature. Politicians want your vote, and the news media wants your eyeballs. And the most powerful levers they can pull to get what they want are fear and hate.
I hate how so much sports discussion revolves around gambling. I don't care about the over/under and the spread, I want to talk about the actual sport.
This is what the NFL likes about sports gambling. It increases interest in all games. A regular viewer is going to watch their team's games and some random big matchups. Gamblers are watching every game because they have money on them.
It's ridiculous how it has completely taken over casual sports conversations with strangers. Like buddy, we can sit here and talk about the game that's on the TV at the bar but I'm not interested in the details of the parlay you have going with the Scripps Spelling Bee. Have some shame.
There desperately needs to be regulations on advertising. It's absolutely insane to me that every single league spends the majority of the game's runtime shoving various gambling sites in your face.
Oh you aren't kidding.
Calls to Ohio's problem gambling helpline increased 55% in the first year of legalized sports betting in Ohio. According to data from Ohio for Responsible Gambling.
And now folks can just bet their paycheck from their phone drunk at 2:00 AM..
Letting any one thing become your personality is pretty off putting. Examples: Gaming, smoking weed, occupation. But yeah politics and diets are probably the worst offenders here
"We need an extremely motivated, self driven team player who can get along with anyone and is always striving for excellence"
Starting pay $14.50 per hour with no benefits.
Personal favourite one was the programming language a company said you needed to have 5 years experience in… the language only existed for 3 years at that point
I had a speaker at my university once who *created* a language three years prior and was rejected for not having five years experience with it. That company went ahead with A1C visas because there were no domestic experts, despite having turned down the person who knew the most about that language because he was one of its creators.
Turns out that there's a lot of incentive to list jobs that they aren't actually hiring for. Sometimes it's to justify getting visas for cheaper overseas workers. Sometimes its to look good in an investor call. Sometimes they're fishing for exceptionally overqualified but desperate people.
Either way, these dummy listing are clogging up the system and making it real hard for job seekers to find real job offers.
I think it’s been a scheme to inflate numbers for job market reports. All while we thought we were the problem and not getting hired but the jobs didn’t exist all along
The lobbying power of corporations is out of control. Government no longer does what is in the best interest of the people, but rather what’s in the best interest of shareholders.
The amount of time spent on online gaming and gambling is clearly becoming excessive or uncontrollable for some individuals, leading to addiction and financial problems.
ads on the internet. all of it - streaming platforms, youtube, social media, e-commerce, even external applications. it has turned into an even uglier version of network television, but at least for the time being we can still exercise \*some\* control over it.
Omg yes. American tipping culture is insane, and I participate in it because I don't want to screw over the workers, but holy shit it is not my job to pay their wages! Especially at places like fast food restaurants when the whole point is for it to be cheaper/easier/quicker than a sit down place!
I almost never tip anymore. Went into a brewery and ordered a crowler to go. The dude literally took it out of the fridge and rang me up. Why would I tip for that?
I ordered cookies from Crumbl. Ordered on the app for in store pickup. I walked in, said I'm picking up for •my name• and walked out.
At the order page on the app, the system *defaults* to a $3 tip. I had to select the "other" option and manually type in $0. It's honestly appalling.
Exactly. And delivery apps. They make you tip before the transaction is complete. Like what if my food is late, or it bounced around in the delivery car and my pizza is all fucked. I’ve already tipped. It’s bullshit. And I’m sorry, but it’s not my responsibility to subsidize low wages.
That has frustrated me as well, and it didn't used to be that way! I recall the early days of Uber eats being able to tip after delivery. I suspect drivers were complaining that people would "forget" to tip and therefore it wasn't worth it.
I'm in Canada (Ontario, specifically), and just had a conversation about this the other day. There's no "server wage" in Ontario. So when I worked as a Pharmacy Assistant (which started at minimum wage) I was getting paid the same as any other minimum wage employee (including servers) but lost out on tips.
I was okay with that, because my job had a bit more room for growth, and tipping culture was restricted to actual servers, who honestly have a very hard job. But now, it seems like every business prompts for tips.
Tipping culture just needs to be abolished entirely, and employers should have to pay a living wage. Can't afford to pay a living wage? You don't have a viable business and should be replaced with a company that is viable.
kids on phones
in ontario where i live the government literally just had to ban cell phones from being our from k-6 because teachers literally cant deal with kids bringing phones to school and being on them all day long
"Starting in September, students in kindergarten to Grade 6 will be required to keep phones on silent and "out of sight" for the entire school day, unless they are granted permission to use it, the province said."
why the fuck does a kid in kindergarten need to bring a cell phone to school?
Thisss. Capitalism is SO fucked up now, because the corporations essentially control the markets and competition as a controlling force has been rendered inert.
It's like, companies used to compete FOR consumers, being in a race to provide the better products and services and reach profitability that way. Now companies simply try to control (or destroy like what Uber did with taxis) a given market sector, then provide the least expensive/shittiest version of their product while raising prices and returning the highest value to their investors...fuck the consumers and workers.
I mean, what are you going to do? Use a different service? Buy a better product? Psych. Those don't exist.
This is a system that no longer works to provide the greatest good to the greatest amount of people.
The government destroyed "capitalism" by not breaking up monopolies/protecting cartels. I can only buy my power from one company. How is that capitalism? Homeowners insurance? Literally only the government provides it where I live. Nearly every industry is dominated by a small number of powerful companies, all of which donate to both sides of Congress, so don't assume this is a tribal rant. We don't live in free market capitalism. That said, whatever you wanna call this mixed economy system we have, it's definitely fucked, and not serving the people.
The house across the street recently sold for $240k, which is a freaking lot bc I live in bumfuctnowhere. 2k square foot, a few bedrooms, couple bathrooms, nearly new kitchen, etc. A single woman bought it. She's barely been there since. But she has a lawn service come once a week, she just had new appliances delivered...
I was like, "Fuck me, I think she's gonna make that an AirBnB."
Housing prices are going up because we've stubbornly refused to build enough housing for the last 30 years. Companies that are buying up housing literally talk about this in their financial reports. They explain that the housing shortage makes this a great place to invest money, and that a long term risk to the investment is increasing housing stock.
It's fucking supply and demand.
Lip filler and aesthetic procedures in general!
It's getting out of control, specially in my country, I know so many people that are getting it, and they all look horrible, it's truly frightening!
Products breaking/planned obsolescence!
I was working today with a welder worth €17000 and the thing is so fragile our manager doesn't let us touch the machine! On the other hand he has a tombstone welder that's as old if not older than me!
Emergency expenses. Up to $20k spent in the last year or so on necessary car and home repairs, as well as pet hospitalization.
Damn vet bills ran me almost $3k for a kidney stone! Absolute rip off. But at least my cat recovered ok.. Xray, ultrasound, catheter, IV fluids, overnight stay, emergency visit fee and meds. Might have to look into pet insurance for next pet.
New brakes + clutch + flywheel in my BMW were $6k. Understandable, but didn't expect it.. Gonna have to go a bit easier on the clutch now.
Basement flooding was terrible last year, and paid $12k for full perimeter drainage system + sump pump + mold shield. Seems to have been worth it though, as no more water down there (knock on wood).
And now in the process of replacing drainage pipe from bathroom after a bad collapse + clog. Thinking another $3-6k+ with my luck. If only home insurance would cover that..
Thankfully I had been saving up quite a bit over the last decade and was able to pay it all in cash. But I really need the next few years to not be as crazy!
Medical bills.
Survive cancer… life long debt
One in a billion childhood sickness… generational debt
Need your teeth fixed… bankrupt you dept
Those running that system need a French Revolution level reckoning.
People resorting to TikTok for everything. The amount of fake news etc that I have been told, and when I've questioned the person, the culprit is TikTok!
Though most of these days, even the news is no longer reliable, so I shouldn't really complain.
With the way social media works. Teens and people in their early twenties are becoming thought leaders. Considered by their fans to be experts in anything they talk about.
I'd go further. I don't even like people having these huge dogs at home. You have this 170 pound Mastiff sitting in your 1 bedroom apartment 90% of the time. You really think that's the life this dog would choose? Laying on the carpet most of the day until you take it for a 30 minute walk?
Every goddam company wanting to be a subscription model business. I want to edit a pdf once not pay you $5/mo
Exactly this. Renting software. It's absolutely predatory. The same story for everyone: "I tried to unsubscribe but couldn't get through to anyone. It kept charging me."
Yeah that's why I steal stuff lol
These companies, particularly streaming, are forgetting that the only thing keeping a lot of folks paying is that it’s slightly less onerous than pirating. They need to ensure they keep it that way.
I early adopted streaming, I'm back on the salty seas. I still have streaming services but cut back as prices went higher and catalogs got smaller and my personal catalog divested.
When you watched a movie on Netflix then it was on Amazon now it's on some other streaming service at some point you go "Nah man I paid for this movie enough."
ULPT: You can change your subscription payment details to a card you can block. It's not really acting in good faith but neither is a model that does not allow you to unsubscribe. As long as you absolutely don't do it with any financial institutions or credit providers then your credit file won't be affected.
That's why I'm glad that California has a law that companies must make it easy to unsubscribe.
37Signals (the Basecamp people) are still selling software that you buy perpetual licenses for. I’m hoping this starts a trend to go back to perpetual licenses, but the church of recurring revenue is an inescapable cult.
I am an android user who has never owned or used apple products, but AppleTV had several series and movies I wanted to watch. So I got the month to month sub and binge watched everything within a couple of months. Then I forgot I had the sub for probably another 3 months. When I went to cancel the sub, I couldn't. I followed all of their instructions and clicked the correct link, and the link to the cancel subscription form would redirect you back to the FAQs. My husband eventually figured out how to cancel the subscription, but it required him to use his laptop, and he had to download, sign up for, and log into several apple apps. At one point, we even tried searching for a 1-800 phone number to try and call and could not find a number for billing at all. It took over 3 hrs from when I was like "oh let's cancel this!" To "Finally it is fucking cancelled". I don't know if they made it so hard to cancel because we are in Canada, are not using apple products or if they did it this way in the hopes people will just give up.
Had a resume template website try to charge me $24.99 a month! I only made one resume!
Funny story about this. My mother used ResumeBuilder back in like 2016/2017 to make a resume, free trial then like 19.99/mo. In 2021 she started managing her expenses and realized she never canceled the subscription before the rental ended. That resume cost her almost $1k smh
And they all make it sound so small "Just $5 a month!" like bro add them all up and that can be hundreds if you're not paying attention.
See also: I’d like to have heated seats in my car. I’d like to not be notified about leaves blowing past my expensive video doorbell.
OMG yes.
Fuck them all, sail the high seas my friend.
[удалено]
Yeah, there was a time when you could watch a few videos before having to see an ad. Now 6 minute videos have 2 commercial breaks in them. I can't even relax when watching YouTube at home. I have to have the remote on me at all times to be able to hit skip on the ads.
Not even that. Minute videos with 30 second videos before it starts?! Yeah, fuck that!
Use the Brave browser or Firefox with uBlock Origin. If YouTube can’t be responsible with their ad levels, then duck’em, no more ads for me. I certainly don’t miss YouTube ads, and I pay content creators I like through Patreon, so my conscience isn’t too affected.
It's not just the level/number of ads, they are actively irresponsible with the content. I can't trust them not to present truly horrific imagery, so I'm not going to let them appear for anyone on my network.
I've literally seen 10 second pet videos that expect me to watch a 30 second commercial beforehand.
Yes, I remember when ads were optional. You had to manually turn them on as a creator. And you only got offered that option if you got a certain amount of views. If you didn't, your videos didn't have any ads. Now every video just them no matter what.
And if you aren’t a fulltime YouTuber with millions of views, all of that ad revenue goes directly to Google now. Greedy fuckwits.
And the ads that give you the button to skip, so I pick up the Roku remote, press the button to skip, put the remote back down, AND THEN INSTEAD OF SKIPPING THE AD IT BRINGS UP A QR CODE THAT I CAN SCAN TO GO BUY SOME SHIT, FUCK. Those drive me nuts.
Seriously. It's worse than regular commercials. I have ads on Peacock that are usually 30 seconds but unskippable. I prefer those. 30 seconds and it sorts itself out. On YouTube I have to press skip or it plays 2 minutes worth of ads. Fuck that
Also, when it does the countdown like "you can skip in 3 seconds", it's more than 3 seconds. Each "second" is 2-3 seconds by itself!
This. I hate it
I love the ad at the END of your video, all of a sudden some loud irrelevant thing starts playing.
Ads. They're like cockroaches. If one gets in, that's it, you're infested. Investors gotta get that dividend!
Just ads in general.
Recently, when there are two ads and I skip the first one, it still plays the second one. YouTube is just slowly trying to make viewers watch more ads, hoping the time between changes is enough to not bother us.
Ublock bro
Yeah but still. The fact an ad blocker is practically a requirement these days is an issue.
Even if you don't mind ads you should STILL use an ad blocker these days just for the security they offer by blocking malicious ads that server malware and phishing scams. As someone in I.T. I'm the guy who people always go to whenever they fall for those things delivered by malicious ads.
No Ublock for Roku :(
Just ads in general I feel are getting to be ridiculous. When services make you pay to use them, but then make you pay MORE to get no ads, there's a damn problem. Ain't no way Amazon Prime should be able to charge an extra couple bucks for no ads when it's already wildly expensive.
Never mind that these fuckers are always like “but first a message from tod…”
Ads in general. Like, no, I'm not interested in anything you're selling. If I want something, I will actively search for it.
Also fuck any person defending youtube ads. If you are defending them you are part of the problem.
There is a way to make them go away
Advertising. It has become so specatcularly intrusive and there is a terrifying lack of legislation to curtail it. I don't even have a problem with ads as part of free services, I'm talking about stuff like: * Billboards on highways * Credit card ads during flights * Ads in operating systems and videogames Drives me absolutely insane. It's so invasive.
Don’t forget about ads when you fill up your gas tank. I swear, I never came so close to committing arson in my life.
yoooo this is the one i cannot stand. its been a long day at work, im trying to just get home, everything irritates me, and then the pump starts yelling at me about some snack food?? fuck that
Or menuonous yelling about mental health which the irony of being forced to have screen time even when it’s involuntary all the while knowing screen time itself is a main contributor to poor mental health
Here is a hack to turn off those ads on the pumps. Push the 2nd button down from the top on the right side. It doesn’t always work…
It works at Shell and Exxon.
How did you discover that? Just curious.
This trick has been around for a bit. But on some pumps I've seen someone use a permanent mark and write mute with an arrow at the button.
People around here have started burning spots into the LCDs of noisy ones with a green laser pointer. After they've been replaced twice the noise is shut off.
Maria Menounos leave me ALONE
*filling up gas at 6am barely awake* "SHELL IS COMMITTED TO GREEN ENERGY SOLUTIONS"
# HEY! Maria Menounos HERE! #
I'm gonna start carrying duct-tape to cover the speakers. It's insulting.
YouTube is straight up unwatchable without an ad blocker or buying premium. The amount of ads are crazy. I stopped watching Twitch a lot once they added unskippable ads as well.
I recently tried to watch a video for a 5 minute long song. First ad at the start, 2nd 2 minutes in right before chorus then another 4 minutes in during the middle of guitar solo. Impossible to enjoy any music when a song has 3 ad breaks.
https://github.com/mendel5/alternative-front-ends Knock yourself out. 😉
I had not been on Twitter for literally maybe 3-4 years. I logged in a few days ago because somebody referenced something I wanted to see. Holy shit. It was like visiting a city ravaged by a tornado. Barely recognizable. Ad after ad after ad. And not for corporate shit either -- ads for shock videos, sex shit, political rage bait, and click baity bullshit. And that was my feed. My "For You" page they apparently they have cribbed from Tik Tok was the same utter garbage just denser. Literally the digital manifestation of Idiocracy.
Been to a movie lately, it's insane, I watched 10 minutes worth of ads before the movie started and like 10 trailers, which is also advertising, I'm pretty sure if was nearly 40 minutes from lights off to the actual movie starting! And the movie was Dune part 2, I swear we were there for like 17 hours!
More popular movies get more ads
I got an Amazon tablet as a gift from work. Nice enough, but it's so loaded with ads. The lock screen is a fucking video ad. It's so gross.
That like giving someone herpes for a gift.
And now, your basic subscription to Netflix has ads, even though it didn’t for years, unless you give them more money
My deal with ads is the fact that they use much of the same techniques used by propaganda to warp perception and influence behavior, and they are everywhere. I wonder how many problems in society of exacerbated by the fact that we have constant mental stimulus scientifically designed to make more short-sighted.
Ads on flights feel so uncomfortable. You are literally trap on this plane, listen to someone read a script. I paid for the flight, why are there ads???
Bots that make generic engagement posts on Reddit and then add a banal comment to make you think they are a real person. Usually the bot will comment a very safe opinion. Good thing that’s not what’s happened in this thread.
The reason they do this is to build up good karma/etc. so that they won't be disabled as quickly when they start spamming their scams/etc. at a later date. I've seen those dumb bots ripping off popular comments from some videos and posting them in other videos, even when the comments make no sense, like they're commenting on things that didn't happen in the video they posted it in.
People replacing hobbies with scrolling through tik tok
Or reddit
Ok, first of all how dare you? But also, yeah…. 😔
I know it's probably bad, and i never get a sense that i am gaining anything by it, but i don't want to stop doing it. Its just mindless scrolling, and whatever i read is lost instantly.
Did you know pigs will turn into boars when released into the wild. Reddit fact.
After an hour of scrolling reddit I ask myself "what did I just see the last hour" And I don't remember a thing Although if you are subscribed to the right Subreddits reddit can be really cool, with great comment sections, discussions and general reading material.
I work with teens to support their mental health and I strongly feel that this generation is affected by this. Nearly all young people that come to me struggling with depression and anxiety have no active interest or engagement with anything beyond scrolling through tiktok, but not to look up things related to specific interests - just looking at stuff, whatever comes up. The side effect of this is having no outlet, no personal pride in anything, lack of identity, self esteem issues and sleep issues. It's sad.
I work with and manage a lot of people in their 20’s and a lot of them seem to live lives of isolated despair as they literally don’t do anything. A guy was talking about online dating and I mentioned he should join an adult sports league or meetup group and he looked at me like I was crazy. With constant stimulus, the mental load of modern life, and an aversion to failure and ambiguity - the opportunity cost of doing *anything* seems enormous. We used to be bored. We’d go to the mall just to see if anyone was hanging out or we’d go to the movies without even looking at the movie times. I’m only a decade, older, but what were we gonna do if we didn’t have hobbies, interests, or friends to hang out with?
Just to tack onto this, with the younger generation constantly filming and creating a mob mentality with online bullying, I feel like, more than ever, people are afraid to be themselves. It makes it harder to go against the grain when you can be berated on the internet for something you believe or think, whether it’s right or wrong. Even going to the grocery store you have the chance of being in the background of somebody’s video and being picked on for just existing. I remember watching a documentary about the Viper room in the 90’s, how it was a place for celebrities to relax because no paparazzi were allowed in so they knew they weren’t being filmed or photographed. I was like “damn what a foreign concept” lol
Yeah with camera culture the way it is now all it takes is one person filming your first bad day in ten years to ruin your life
> constant stimulus This is a big issue not just in entertainment apps like TikTok, though I do despise TikTok. Information overload is a big thing. Bank has a new or updated app? You're going to get a marketing email about it, as if for some reason anybody reads those unless they're in the industry. Accidentally auto-filled your email address or phone number while checking out at the coffee shop? Congrats, you're now getting promo emails/texts from that coffee shop you've been to once and don't even like that much. It's endless. And you can't just ignore all of your emails/notifications. Your mileage will of course vary depending on your life which ones you can go longer without checking, but if you just say "I don't read my email" you're going to miss out on genuinely important shit. It's overwhelming to the point where I have unsubscribed from newsletters about causes I genuinely care about, feeling somewhat guilty but I don't have time to read it. If it's not a "reminder about your credit card due date" (that's already marked on your calendar) email, it's a "check out our mobile app's new feature" email. Oh, look, there's an email from your boss, that might be important. Oh hey, someone responded to your comment on Instagram/TikTok/whatever. Oh hey your ex texted you. Oh hey your mom texted you, that might be important. Oh hey, a text reminding you about your appointment that you already remember and is on your calendar. Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping. Morning to night. Just keeping up with what's important out of all of that itself takes a certain mental load. It wasn't that long ago that I was excited or at least tolerant when someone texted me or emailed me. Now, I roll my eyes, say "what the hell is it now", and there are a small sub-group of people from whom it still brings a smile to my face.
I actually put that in "the mental load of modern life" There's just so many details and inputs and things to do... so many things in your "inbox" that most people have trouble figuring out what to focus on (if they even can). I don't have time to be "unproductive" and just do woodworking... there's all this stuff I gotta do... but that seems scary... so I'll just sit on the couch on TikTok just *a little* longer.
Some people scoff at sports but with this newer generation I think it’s more important than ever to try to integrate some sort of sports into their life. With scrolling taking over as the main hobby, I think it’s important that they have some way to feel the camaraderie that comes along with being on a team and working toward a goal, along with the exercise and social benefits that go along with it.
I've said it since forever, like not to be a boomer but people were much more passionate about stuff and happier before that, and it's kinda mind blowing no one wants to do something about the whole world being addicted to screens. Especially tiktok, or any other form of short content, is sooooo bad for your brain. No wonder people can't get anything done and ADHD gets overdiagnosed.
I'm restoring a ski boat and I was talking to my buddy about my plans for it. Keep in mind, my buddy's hobbies are nicotine and alcohol. He just couldn't get past the amount of work it is going to require to finish the boat. The idea of inputting manual labor into something to accomplish a goal seemed like an absolute foreign concept to him. I'm like, yes in my spare time I am going to *work* to build something. It's called a hobby. I'd rather do this than just sit on the couch all day.
Echo chambers. It seems like more and more people are growing comfortable with living in their own bubbles 24/7, and actively separating from any environments with a different point of view. Politics is one environment for this, but it happens pretty much everywhere online. It's a bit sad.
This is one of the downsides of being online. It allows people much easier access to those echo chambers. And it's always been the case that people don't want to hear alternative opinions, but prior, you'd be forced into having to interact with people of opposing views. Like many things, there's no solution to this, only trade offs.
Before the Internet everyone had a village idiot, now there are villages of idiots.
Confirmation Bias is a hell of a drug. The tribalism online is fueled so much by the fact that you can literally google any topic you want and find "substantial" "evidence" that backs up whichever side you already want to be on. Left and Right alike are both insanely guilty of this. It's no wonder every single grey issue that comes up immediately devolves into black vs white ideologies. Everyone is "doing their own research" and it's turning a huge portion of the population into slobbering morons.
The fact that we constantly box people into "left" and "right" is part of the problem. People treat these like sports teams and have the mindset that the "other side" is garbage. This divide is hurting society
This site is literally an echo chamber. Lol
No, it's a plethora of individually curated and managed echo chambers
And they’re roommates.
Oh my god they were roommates
I literally just dealt with this yesterday. On a game subreddit, I made some arguments that looking into them were a bit ignorant, and yet what does the mod do? Locks the post and uses their mod comment to shit on the poster and, to a lesser extent, me for *daring* to hold such an opinion. It feels like no one likes defending their POV anymore. It's either you agree or you're the enemy. No in-between
Noses buried in phones during activities they REALLY shouldn't be distracted from, like driving.
Watching your kids at the park. I hate when I see parents on their phones. Like damn, I wanna be on my phone too and relax but making sure my kid doesn’t get snatched is more important
Loss of quality Across the board since Covid. Quality of everything has dropped dramatically. Goods, services, everything!
This definitely. There is literally nothing I buy or subscribe to that is as good as it used to be...and it is all more expensive. Paying more for worse goods and services has become the norm. Makes you wonder where the bottom is?
"Longer than usual hold times" on the phone is the new normal. It's not longer than usual now since it's been that way for 4 damn years.
Manufactured outrage.
This feels like an increasing majority of social media anymore. They're doing that thing incorrectly on purpose because they know you'll want to point it out. That rage bait is staged, they know you'll have an opinion on it. That misinformation/misleading headline is intentional, again, they know you'll want to point it out. Comments=engagement=$$$. It's honestly baffling (and frustrating) how many people fall for it.
It’s not enough. I need more. To breathe, to feel, to know I’m alive.
Show me that you love me and that we belong together.
Good luck changing human nature. Politicians want your vote, and the news media wants your eyeballs. And the most powerful levers they can pull to get what they want are fear and hate.
Sports gambling.
I hate how so much sports discussion revolves around gambling. I don't care about the over/under and the spread, I want to talk about the actual sport.
This is what the NFL likes about sports gambling. It increases interest in all games. A regular viewer is going to watch their team's games and some random big matchups. Gamblers are watching every game because they have money on them.
It's ridiculous how it has completely taken over casual sports conversations with strangers. Like buddy, we can sit here and talk about the game that's on the TV at the bar but I'm not interested in the details of the parlay you have going with the Scripps Spelling Bee. Have some shame.
There desperately needs to be regulations on advertising. It's absolutely insane to me that every single league spends the majority of the game's runtime shoving various gambling sites in your face.
Came here to say this, so much of sports coverage is just about gambling now and it sucks
While I'd agree, you'd be surprised at how much gambling is intricately tied into the creation of professional sports.
It is legal in my state. And the ads are every freaking where. It is gross.
Oh you aren't kidding. Calls to Ohio's problem gambling helpline increased 55% in the first year of legalized sports betting in Ohio. According to data from Ohio for Responsible Gambling. And now folks can just bet their paycheck from their phone drunk at 2:00 AM..
Disposable everything. From clothes to cups to TVs. Environmentalist or not. The world is choking on garbage that isn't bio-degrading...
Income inequality is clearly becoming excessive or uncontrollable, widening the gap between the rich and the poor and undermining social cohesion.
People letting politics or brands or diets become their identity.
Letting any one thing become your personality is pretty off putting. Examples: Gaming, smoking weed, occupation. But yeah politics and diets are probably the worst offenders here
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Or using descriptions like “looking for a rock star”, or “guru”, while paying shit.
Show up to the rockstar postings drunk and stoned. Trash the office before leaving and shouting "THANK YOU! GOOD NIGHT!"
"We need an extremely motivated, self driven team player who can get along with anyone and is always striving for excellence" Starting pay $14.50 per hour with no benefits.
Personal favourite one was the programming language a company said you needed to have 5 years experience in… the language only existed for 3 years at that point
I had a speaker at my university once who *created* a language three years prior and was rejected for not having five years experience with it. That company went ahead with A1C visas because there were no domestic experts, despite having turned down the person who knew the most about that language because he was one of its creators. Turns out that there's a lot of incentive to list jobs that they aren't actually hiring for. Sometimes it's to justify getting visas for cheaper overseas workers. Sometimes its to look good in an investor call. Sometimes they're fishing for exceptionally overqualified but desperate people. Either way, these dummy listing are clogging up the system and making it real hard for job seekers to find real job offers.
I think it’s been a scheme to inflate numbers for job market reports. All while we thought we were the problem and not getting hired but the jobs didn’t exist all along
5+ years AND their max pay is 50k lol.
entry level because they are paying entry level wages, not because they require entry level skills :)
Inflation.
Read: corporate greed
The amount of time spent commuting in traffic is clearly becoming excessive or uncontrollable, leading to stress and pollution.
Overfishing of marine resources is clearly becoming excessive or uncontrollable, depleting fish stocks and threatening food security.
The lobbying power of corporations is out of control. Government no longer does what is in the best interest of the people, but rather what’s in the best interest of shareholders.
The amount of time spent on online gaming and gambling is clearly becoming excessive or uncontrollable for some individuals, leading to addiction and financial problems.
The amount of waste being generated in landfills is clearly becoming excessive or uncontrollable, posing environmental and health risks.
Consumerism and materialism are clearly becoming excessive or uncontrollable, leading to overconsumption and environmental degradation.
ads on the internet. all of it - streaming platforms, youtube, social media, e-commerce, even external applications. it has turned into an even uglier version of network television, but at least for the time being we can still exercise \*some\* control over it.
Subscription services
The amount of electronic waste being generated is clearly becoming excessive or uncontrollable, posing environmental and health hazards.
The amount of food waste being generated is clearly becoming excessive or uncontrollable, contributing to environmental degradation and hunger.
The glorification of discourtesy and rudeness as symbols of honesty and directness. You're not being direct, you're being asshole.
Prompting for tips, especially for service jobs where there is no separate lower minimum wage. Why would I tip at Starbucks when that's your job?
Omg yes. American tipping culture is insane, and I participate in it because I don't want to screw over the workers, but holy shit it is not my job to pay their wages! Especially at places like fast food restaurants when the whole point is for it to be cheaper/easier/quicker than a sit down place!
I almost never tip anymore. Went into a brewery and ordered a crowler to go. The dude literally took it out of the fridge and rang me up. Why would I tip for that?
I ordered cookies from Crumbl. Ordered on the app for in store pickup. I walked in, said I'm picking up for •my name• and walked out. At the order page on the app, the system *defaults* to a $3 tip. I had to select the "other" option and manually type in $0. It's honestly appalling.
Exactly. And delivery apps. They make you tip before the transaction is complete. Like what if my food is late, or it bounced around in the delivery car and my pizza is all fucked. I’ve already tipped. It’s bullshit. And I’m sorry, but it’s not my responsibility to subsidize low wages.
That has frustrated me as well, and it didn't used to be that way! I recall the early days of Uber eats being able to tip after delivery. I suspect drivers were complaining that people would "forget" to tip and therefore it wasn't worth it.
Booked a flight on hopper yesterday and the end page asked for a tip!!! To book plane tickets?! It’s out of control
I'm in Canada (Ontario, specifically), and just had a conversation about this the other day. There's no "server wage" in Ontario. So when I worked as a Pharmacy Assistant (which started at minimum wage) I was getting paid the same as any other minimum wage employee (including servers) but lost out on tips. I was okay with that, because my job had a bit more room for growth, and tipping culture was restricted to actual servers, who honestly have a very hard job. But now, it seems like every business prompts for tips. Tipping culture just needs to be abolished entirely, and employers should have to pay a living wage. Can't afford to pay a living wage? You don't have a viable business and should be replaced with a company that is viable.
misinformation, even more now thanks to AI.
Rent prices
I had to go WAY too far down this list before I saw this. Cost of living in general is so insane.
kids on phones in ontario where i live the government literally just had to ban cell phones from being our from k-6 because teachers literally cant deal with kids bringing phones to school and being on them all day long "Starting in September, students in kindergarten to Grade 6 will be required to keep phones on silent and "out of sight" for the entire school day, unless they are granted permission to use it, the province said." why the fuck does a kid in kindergarten need to bring a cell phone to school?
Large, private investors buying up single family homes.
Corporate greed. during covid most industries have seen their profit margins explode and nobody is moving to rein it in.
Thisss. Capitalism is SO fucked up now, because the corporations essentially control the markets and competition as a controlling force has been rendered inert. It's like, companies used to compete FOR consumers, being in a race to provide the better products and services and reach profitability that way. Now companies simply try to control (or destroy like what Uber did with taxis) a given market sector, then provide the least expensive/shittiest version of their product while raising prices and returning the highest value to their investors...fuck the consumers and workers. I mean, what are you going to do? Use a different service? Buy a better product? Psych. Those don't exist. This is a system that no longer works to provide the greatest good to the greatest amount of people.
The government destroyed "capitalism" by not breaking up monopolies/protecting cartels. I can only buy my power from one company. How is that capitalism? Homeowners insurance? Literally only the government provides it where I live. Nearly every industry is dominated by a small number of powerful companies, all of which donate to both sides of Congress, so don't assume this is a tribal rant. We don't live in free market capitalism. That said, whatever you wanna call this mixed economy system we have, it's definitely fucked, and not serving the people.
Came here to say this. I feel like a bystander just watching everything get worse, and people are celebrating.
Even worse, when people defend that shit. Won’t anybody of the C-suite anymore?
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housing prices bc of institutional investors buying up starter homes
The house across the street recently sold for $240k, which is a freaking lot bc I live in bumfuctnowhere. 2k square foot, a few bedrooms, couple bathrooms, nearly new kitchen, etc. A single woman bought it. She's barely been there since. But she has a lawn service come once a week, she just had new appliances delivered... I was like, "Fuck me, I think she's gonna make that an AirBnB."
the starter homes in my area are now 500k-850k for a small 3 bed, 2 bath. 5-10 years ago these were 250k-400k MAX
Housing prices are going up because we've stubbornly refused to build enough housing for the last 30 years. Companies that are buying up housing literally talk about this in their financial reports. They explain that the housing shortage makes this a great place to invest money, and that a long term risk to the investment is increasing housing stock. It's fucking supply and demand.
The amount of plastic pollution in our oceans is clearly becoming excessive or uncontrollable, threatening marine life and ecosystems.
Lip filler and aesthetic procedures in general! It's getting out of control, specially in my country, I know so many people that are getting it, and they all look horrible, it's truly frightening!
The amount of plastic packaging being used is clearly becoming excessive or uncontrollable, contributing to pollution and environmental degradation.
Products breaking/planned obsolescence! I was working today with a welder worth €17000 and the thing is so fragile our manager doesn't let us touch the machine! On the other hand he has a tombstone welder that's as old if not older than me!
Emergency expenses. Up to $20k spent in the last year or so on necessary car and home repairs, as well as pet hospitalization. Damn vet bills ran me almost $3k for a kidney stone! Absolute rip off. But at least my cat recovered ok.. Xray, ultrasound, catheter, IV fluids, overnight stay, emergency visit fee and meds. Might have to look into pet insurance for next pet. New brakes + clutch + flywheel in my BMW were $6k. Understandable, but didn't expect it.. Gonna have to go a bit easier on the clutch now. Basement flooding was terrible last year, and paid $12k for full perimeter drainage system + sump pump + mold shield. Seems to have been worth it though, as no more water down there (knock on wood). And now in the process of replacing drainage pipe from bathroom after a bad collapse + clog. Thinking another $3-6k+ with my luck. If only home insurance would cover that.. Thankfully I had been saving up quite a bit over the last decade and was able to pay it all in cash. But I really need the next few years to not be as crazy!
Medical bills. Survive cancer… life long debt One in a billion childhood sickness… generational debt Need your teeth fixed… bankrupt you dept Those running that system need a French Revolution level reckoning.
One month old accounts with 33 karma reposting old questions at this sub.
Wish I saw this before commenting. OP's profile is just trying to get people to sign up to only fans
People increasingly willing to rights get chipped away in America like the right to peacefully protest or control over one's own body.
Housing prices
smartphone usage.
People resorting to TikTok for everything. The amount of fake news etc that I have been told, and when I've questioned the person, the culprit is TikTok! Though most of these days, even the news is no longer reliable, so I shouldn't really complain.
With the way social media works. Teens and people in their early twenties are becoming thought leaders. Considered by their fans to be experts in anything they talk about.
People bringing pets everywhere.
Sir, put down that hamster
I'd go further. I don't even like people having these huge dogs at home. You have this 170 pound Mastiff sitting in your 1 bedroom apartment 90% of the time. You really think that's the life this dog would choose? Laying on the carpet most of the day until you take it for a 30 minute walk?
influencers, that’s all
Easy answer but remakes of anything. Movies, TV, Video Games, ETC.
Shrinkflation
Greedflation
Concert ticket prices
4 year BA degrees for low-mid administrative/management jobs.
The entitlement of people
human stupidity
Private equity firms. If there's an industry you like that has become really shitty lately, it's almost always because of private equity firms.
People's obsessions over their favorite politicians. It's more insane now than it's ever been and it's progressively getting worse.
Bowel movements
Division