in 2024 there are so many one-click-install adblockers for your browser, phone's DNS, router... anyone still seeing a sizable amount of ads these days has to be the most complacent, easily manipulated, lucrative demographic imaginable

Or maybe some people have moral qualms with simply taking without giving back.

Viewing an ad is not “giving back” in any meaningful sense. Modern adtech primarily benefits the infrastructure providers, rather than providing a service to its “clients” or a revenue stream to site owners.

Adblocking is the only meaningful objection that the consuming public can raise to the inefficient and wasteful adtech situation. Depending on how you feel about your obligations with regards to civil society, you might view it as a moral imperative.

Your other option is not consuming ad-supported content. There's no natural entitlement you should be able to view all content in a form that suits you.

> Viewing an ad is not “giving back” in any meaningful sense

What you declare to be meaningful isn't really the issue. It's how the thing you're getting chooses to pay for itself.

Or you know... kids and/or elderly who lack the knowhow?

QED :-(

I've always had an intense visceral distaste for referring to podcasts, videos, and long-form writing as "content," especially when creators use the term. No matter how well-meaning or neutral its usage might be, I always involuntarily picture an old-timey cartoon farmer dumping slop into a giant trough when I hear phrases like "bringing you better content" or "being an influencer producing the type of content you want to see." I think you've just helped me solve the puzzle — hopefully, this will help me shed my negative association with the term. Many actually respectable internet personalities I follow use it, and I don't like being "that guy."

I share your distaste for "content". To me the word speaks of a lack of interest, understanding, or even respect, for what creators are making.

To some extent it does serve a useful purpose in that it makes it clear that it is in fact the ads that are the main event on these platforms, and that the "content" is merely a palatable delivery mechanism for adverts... which is a pretty depressing realisation.

RMS has a nice write-up about it https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#Content

But look

I made you some content

Daddy made you your favorite

Open wide

Here comes the content

It's a beautiful day

To stay inside

a little bit of everything… all of the time…

In the context of certain YouTube communities - a couple of examples I'm aware of are synthtube or watchtube - "content" is also an advertising term for advertising, since this is really what many of the demo or "review" videos are.

People hawking products on Instagram, TikTok, or wherever fall into the same category. The reality is that the whole influencer industry is pretty much just hawking products and services to people.

I like that definition a lot. Another thing that stuck with me is that content is a commodity.