Sometimes it does feel like gimmicks all the way down. So much of the "digital market economy" is about generating demand, as opposed to answering demand.

Conservatively, I'm in favour of serving people's existing needs rather than making them anxious of FOMO something new. But I can see how demand-generation is more profitable: if you get to define what "useful" or "desirable" means, you're gold. "Competition is for losers."

But I see the solution as essentially the same: education and mental resilience. To move the needle back to personal agency, do the "malicious packet blocking" internally, rather than ex-post with technology.