I do this too. Hate paywalls. But not against the idea of paying. The problem is, it’s too fractured. It feels like if I had to pay for each channel on cable TV, it adds up to way too much when you think about the wide scope of sites I could stumble upon on any given month. And like TV, I’m not really a reader of any news site, I’m a reader of interesting pieces of content that surfaces through places like HN/reddit. Then, you also have the fact that usually the title was enough info I realize I don’t even really need to read the text.
Now the question is this: if I didn't care or it wasn't worth reading, why did I click on it in the first place?
Perhaps I don't care about this content as much as I thought anymore. Maybe we've been addicted to reading content, rather than actually making use of most of the content anyway.
PS: I'm trying out The Guardian now. No ads for premium users on mobile.