this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2024
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While it is no secret that exploitative practices are interlaced with capitalistic tendencies, the practices are becoming intolerable. Signing up to pay usually takes only two clicks that are prominently visible whereas cancelation options are hidden away in deep settings requiring multiple clicks. Pricing often feel arbitrary with no reference points. Every large company grows with the intention of exhibiting monopolistic behavior. This is not sustainable and should not be tolerated.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)

That's not even what pisses me off the most about the whole situation. I'm upset that my friends and family don't care.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I short of have a theory with this. There's this belief that "netflix killed piracy" because they provided an actual service with a fair price and the commodity that people wanted to watch shows. And that later on, it got enshittified. But I kinda think that, collaterally, a very important factor that explains people not even knowing how to download a torrent or having 0 critical mind when it comes to the other companies abusing their power has been the surge of smartphones

They were designed to have idiot-proof protection, but more and more they distanced newer generations from having a minimal technical background on how to use computers, which then leads to a more ignorant society incapable of saying no to such companies

I'm not saying this has been the main factor but I have my suspicions to believe it might be related

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

This is such a good observation. We all assumed the "digital natives" generation was going to be able to just be hacker-level familiar with technology. And for those who grew up with just PCs, it's probably true. But the "smartphone native" generation followed so quickly it changed the learning patterns. They understand tech generally and specific apps, but get lost with troubleshooting general problems because computers became appliances.

Scary to think but...Are the same young people who a decade ago were tech support for their parents and grandparents going to have to also do it for their adult children and grandchildren?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I am running into this problem at work all the time! I am a Millennial who does corporate training for new recruits in a field that we will almost completely train you on. I.e. you don't have to have a specific degree or certification because we'll train you on the job.

I have found that almost all of the Gen Z hires don't have more than a basic level of computer literacy. They didn't learn the hard way in middle school that if you don't save your essay, it will be deleted. They had auto-save. They don't how to ctrl+alt+delete to get to their task manager to force shut down a frozen program because they (often) used chromebooks or phones/tablets where it was basically an internet machine that could be restarted if need be, but didn't have more involved software. They have never had to troubleshoot issues with burning data onto a CD (archaic, I know, but our job requires it). They don't know how to format a lot of things in Word because Google docs does a lot of it for you (or doesn't even have the option). Hell, they don't always know what a proper address on a letter looks like because they don't send snail mail - although this only relates to tech in the formatting and printing of letters.

So now I'm training them on the new material they have to learn for the job, but also computer intricacies that I learned in middle school on my Gateway computer with like 1 gig of ram and floppy disks. When you needed to format something perfectly for school, but nothing was user friendly, you had to learn a lot of weird tricks and workarounds.

They are generally still better at using the computer than Gen X or Boomers, but the Millenials get computers on a different level because we grew with the tech. Gen Z can pick up new software quicker, but still don't always get how things actually work.

I also thought that as true digital natives, they would know a lot more than they actually do. I agree with the likelihood that we will more than likely have to translate for our elders and the younger generation as well.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

gestures to everything else I mean... we are fucking drowning in situations to care about.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

.....fuckkkk. that's fair.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

...and then your friend and family don't care about those either 🙃

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

should not be tolerated.

Neither should posting YT videos that should've been articles

A paragraph's worth of information stretched into ten minutes? I've got way better things to do with my time

Edit - twenty four minutes, fuckin hell

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Synopsis by Gemini -

This video by Mrwhosetheboss argues that big tech companies are prioritizing profits over users. The video uses the term "in ification" to describe a three-stage pattern that many tech companies follow. In the first stage, the company offers a superior service at a lower price to gain users. Once they have a large user base, the company focuses on increasing profits from those users by employing tactics like tiering and subscriptions. Finally, the company may reduce the quality of the service while still charging more.

The video uses Uber as an example. Initially, Uber was significantly cheaper and more convenient than taxis. Uber was able to attract a large user base by offering low prices and a better user experience. Once Uber had a dominant market share, they introduced surge pricing and began to take a larger cut of each fare.

The video also criticizes the proliferation of subscription services. The video argues that many companies are offering subscription services for features that were previously free or included in a lower-priced subscription. The video says that this can be a bad deal for consumers, especially when they have to subscribe to multiple services to access all the content they want.

Overall, the video argues that big tech companies are becoming less user-friendly and more focused on extracting money from their users. The video concludes with a call to action, urging viewers to be more critical of subscription services and to cancel them when they are not being used.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Thanks Gemini, I hope they take a while before enshittefying you...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Skipping a month of Humble Choice is an exercise in gotchas. Sometimes the blue button, sometimes not, about 5 confirmation screens to skip through.

I don't know why I'm still subbed in all honestly.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I had one subscription where cancellation was not only buried in a bunker somewhere in the deepest pits of their website, but once you found the magical incantation to get through it the next step was to send them an email requesting a cancellation.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

Exploitative patterns like those idiotic youtube thumbnails the creators are using to draw extra attention to emotions not actually present in the video?

Or making half hour videos for all of 14 sentences of actual content, to stretch the ad-income as much as they can.

Yeah, that. Wish I could give a video -1 view instead of +1 after clicking onto it. Fuck youtubers such as this one, they're part of the problem and don't get to have a say in what we should or should not try to care about.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

100% agree. I've found mrwhostheboss channel to be the worst when it comes to clickbait.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago (3 children)

If it isn't a text file which I can read in 1/10th of the time it would take me to watch a stupid video (if not less), I'm just not bothering.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

This is how the internet used to be and it was wonderful.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago

Install Blocktube or another extension that stops videos from starting when you open the link, and read the transcript. It used to be at the top, just under the video itself, but now they've moved it to the bottom of the video description so you have to go through all the affiliate links just to get to the fucking transcript button.

But once you've found it, transcriptions are your best friend: skim it to see if there's any real reason to watch (usually not) and enjoy that portion of your life that you just saved for things that YOU want and not what Google and that content creator want. The transcript will also tell you what portion of the video you need to watch, if actually watching it suits your needs.

I also regularly speed up videos; 1.25 is great under most circumstances, 1.5 if they're really trying to draaaag shit out. You can always slow it down again, but it's great for getting through the fluff if you need to hear it all (like repair videos for something you've never done yourself).

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Plus it's always a video, but never actually uses the medium. It's just shots of the host talking to the camera. Very very rarely showing clips or screenshots that could even better be embedded in an article.

Can you do a lot with a video, if done well and for the right subject? Of course, and for those it'd absolutely be the correct choice. But people like the guy linked in the OP are neither capable of nor interested in doing that, as it's just a business to them. It increases income, so long youtube videos it is. That's one big takeaway anyways: Content creators talk about this shit not because they care, but because it gives them money. It's a business, not a passion.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Making a proper video takes a lot of time. Just recording yourself reading a text while taking cool poses, not so much.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

We don't need a shitty youtuber to tell us what we've known for years?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

It’s actually a really well made and comprehensive video that will undoubtedly be a wake up call to lots of people.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Can we name, shame and review bomb companies that do this?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

What companies don’t do this?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

It’d be easier to list the companies that don’t.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Freaking Ironic using a VPN as a sponsorship for this video... VPN landscape is literary riddled with Dark Patterns. Surfshark are also guilty of applying these.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Those sponsored ads just tell me to avoid those companies. I'm not from the US, so some stuff goes right over my head (food delivery, clothing), but anything tech related (VPNs, browsers, password managers, etc.) I'll just gonna double down to never use or look into those companies.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Most of the VPN ads simply lie as well. "Get more Netflix" except Netflix blocks most popular VPNs extremely quickly. "Be anonymous online" means "we can see all your activity." Etc.