Ads, ads everywhere

Ads, ads everywhere

I'm really starting to hate the Internet we have at the moment. It feels like you can't put your foot anywhere without being surrounded by ads, be it full banners or cleverly made op-pieces trying to sell you something. We're not surrounded by banners anymore, we're literally bathing into advertising content into everything.

On top of that, everyones is trying to create a "revenue stream", to "build an audience". Gone are the days where people were blogging because they wanted to share their passion with the world, nowadays everyone seems to move their content behind Substack's doors and thinking any piece they wrote is totally worth 5$ a month (plus taxes).

I can't blame people for acting like that, costs of living are increasing everywhere and we all have to live. But the personal spaces of the Internet felt like the last places where we didn't have to be surrounded by ads and it's gone. Even the simple newsletter ends now with sponsored content pushing you to buy yet another thing.

I enjoy my time on Mastodon for this. Finally a space that is not crowded with ads where people express themselves a bit more freely. But even there some fall again in the pit of "building an audience", providing meager RSS feeds with 2 lines articles while hosting full online version cut by 24324 ads on a 400 words essay.

I miss the web we had and I slowly don't know how to deal with the one we have anymore.