I'm nearly 40, which is irrelevant except as to say that I fully remember "the time of ads", and I couldn't disagree more.

I don't think adblocking is a petty form of theft, I think it's prudent, as ads are often security risks - not to mention don't include proper privacy settings but still try to track you against your will. Which is illegal in my part (EU) of the world. I'll try to support in other ways if I think your content is worth it and you provide secondary ways to pay.

I don't see the nostalgia aspect either. Shows were only "designed for it" in such a way that they frequently take breaks from the plot to show ads,. I challenge you to point to any single show where frequent ad breaks actually made the show better.

If you feel like Netflix shows "drag out", that sounds like an attention span issue. The same episode is either much shorter without 30-40% more time being spent on ads, or it's the same air time and just has more actual episode.

Futurama is one examples. Ads usually kick in on a cliffhanger or to emphasize a punchline. This was a popular narrative technique back in the day. It might be why sitcoms worked fine for decades but never really carried over to the VOD era.

Not ads, but the best example of a dramatic interruption are the first two seasons of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, where the hero is screwed and then it cuts out into the Roundabout song. This is a lot less dramatic when you can just binge watch things and don't have to wait a week for the next.

Whereas Netflix shows tend to fill it with fluff, things like side drama, background stories, and redundant plot elements. I know I can skip the ad, but I don't really know if I can skip story details. I end up watching something like Squid Game on 2x speed.

I'm not sure if you read his comments, but he's paying $10 a month for the paid version of Bloomberg and they're still slamming him with ads so I'm not sure how it's considered "petty theft."

It's overpriced, but still the price. Not all theft is illegal, nor unethical. Killing is something that's almost always unethical. But kill a tyrant and it's ethical.

Stealing from a company that has already charged you a subscription fee might be ethical. But I don't enable adblock because it also means I'm stealing on autopilot from other sites that I may want to support.

Advertising is manipulation. The advertisers are literally trying to convince you to buy something you didn’t want to buy. They use every psychological trick available to overcome your resistance.

By this rationale you should also feel obligated to buy everything that everyone advertises to you, since they paid for the ad specifically to get you to buy.

Don't overthink it lol. You're only obligated to ignore the ads. The company gets its ad money. Advertisers paying for views pay for views.

There are models where they pay per download and pay per purchase, but as long as they're not doing that, you're not obligated to do those things.

My favorite analogy here goes back to TV days - where according to this model you're obligated to leave the sound up during the commercial, and remain focused on the screen. Want a snack or to use the bathroom? You owe us your attention.

No, you don't need to pay with attention either. The ad pays out when the ad is displayed. If you stop the playing of the ad, they don't get paid. If you leave the TV on and go to the bathroom, or even if you change the channel, the TV station still gets paid.

You don't owe the advertiser anything unless they're paying you directly. You owe the content creator (a youtube channel) and the content distributor (youtube).

The advertisers are aware of this and it's calculated into their rates. If it's an attentive view, the rates are much, much higher.

For me, advertising is basically proof that product is not good enough to be sold by its quality.

Good product is ad by itself.

How it is petty theft when I did not consent to be advertised to in the first place?

The argument is that your consumption of the content is is tacit consent. I find the argument to be specious at best.

It's theft when they do not consent to you using their services with adblock on.

If I switch to another chanell during ad on TV, is it theft?

AdBlockers just saves a lot of your time and keep you sane during content consumption.

https://www.ic3.gov/Media/Y2022/PSA221221?=8324278624 The FBI itself highly suggests you dont use the internet without an adblocker due to security risks and scams.