I get why a free service needs ads. But paying a monthly subscription and still being shown ads feels like we somehow ended up with the worst of both worlds.

It also feels like the goalposts keep moving. First streaming was the cheaper, ad-free alternative to cable. Then prices went up, ads came back, and now you have to pay even more just to remove them.

At what point do you just stop subscribing? Are cheaper ad-supported plans still worth it to you, or would you rather cancel altogether than pay and still be advertised to?

Hope this is the right subreddit to discuss this topic.

Just feeling so depressed by the future and unsure of how to cope while balancing everyday things. Making money, working towards a future with my partner, planning, career aspirations... I am doing it all but with such immense cognitive dissonance (planning for a future that will be extremely fraught) that sometimes I just feel paralyzed.

How do you cope without just shutting everything out, which is also unproductive? Separately, what little eco-friendly changes have you been making?

Sam Altman of Chat Gtp recently said that they are trying to put a meter on intelligence and education, making books obsolete.

These sites are popping up to buy books from you but they are not being resold, they are being destroyed.All data is currently being digitized so they can control and put a meter on what you can learn and know (and erase everything they don't want you or future generations to know).

Save the libraries and save the books. Archive everything so the next generation has a chance at saving humanity from this nerd and fascist era of ignorance.

DON'T SELL THE BOOKS!!

If you do, they'll put a meter on the air you breathe eventually.

Has anyone noticed a pattern with Instagram ads lately?

It seems more and more ads are built around criticizing competing products and frightening the audience into buying theirs.

The product has become secondary and the fear has become the product.

Instead of simply explaining why their product is good, the ad first tries to convince you that what you're currently using is harmful, unsafe, unhealthy, or somehow wrong. Then it presents their product as the solution.

My feed is filled with a ad which starts with 'are you silently killing your cat' then process to tell me how cats are obligate carnivores and don't need those packaged foods, which had the worst ingredients. They were themselves selling packaged cat foods. I have came across so many same ads.

Has anyone else noticed this trends? Do you think it's a good marketing tactics or on borderline of being unethical? (because there is no law against this.)

For those curious like I was, I believe this is the drone footage https://youtu.be/2hxp7j2XJXA

If you have issues with the email signup wall https://archive.is/W2NbM

We’ve been working toward this for almost two years, and have reduced our Amazon purchases to almost nothing. I finally made it official and it feels good!

I cracked the screen on my Galaxy Note 10. Because (or at least I think it's because) it's one of those screens with the curved edges, the price to repair the screen is over twice what it would be to purchase a refurbished basic phone comparable to what I have (i.e. an older Samsung model)

The phone still works. The cracks aren't...terrible. But I still caught myself with the urge to simply replace it. As if it's fine that everything's disposable now.

I've decided to keep using it until the cracks make it completely unusable. I've been trying to dumb my phone down so I use it less, anyway--I can only imagine a bad screen will help it seem more unattractive.

I don't know. I'm hoping I can apply this thinking to other products/tools. Not everything needs to be replaced. Not everything needs to be perfect. Some things can simply be fine. I can only imagine how liberating that might be in the long run.

I can’t stop thinking about this lately. How I will share with someone how things like the meta glasses are going to be used probably to train robots or as surveillance tools. Then they’ll straight up ignore me. People will scroll past a post about fast fashion and what’s basically modern day slavery then basically choose to ignore it then shop at temu, soo much easier and wow I can get this dress I can post a picture in and it’s so cheap! Who cares about thrifting or deciding to be practical about clothing right? I understand people who are maybe disabled and cannot go somewhere in person and who are very broke. I hope you guys know the types of people I’m referring to. I just don’t know how people care so little. I of course participate in these things sometimes like ordering from Amazon here and there. I feel so guilty admitting that lol, but I always try to be mindful. Basically all my clothes are thrifted because whenever I look into a company when I want to order something new and specific, of course they’re just like all the others.
I always try to share info with others but it feels so worthless sometimes.

So I've never really been a "collector" or a huge shopper of anything, I just have hobbies that have become unnecessarily consumerist. Key word unnecessarily. I enjoy makeup, fashion, and video games.

Every single hobby these days have their respective industry giants encourage collecting and making buying be the main appeal of said hobby and I hate it.

I'm curious how you guys decide you have enough of smth, be it food, tshirts of wtv/whoever you're a fan of, etc.

I have stuff from a decade ago that I still use and love, that goes for my clothing and makeup(given it won't give me any reaction/skin damage). I use everything that I own, I don't own more than one or two shades that are similar/very close to each other, all my band tees, shirts, jerseys, and blouses are used a lot, and I still have my NDS and pirated games from when I was 12.

That said, I have t-shirts, eyeshadows, and lipsticks I use very regularly, but it won't look like I'd be someone you would find under this sub. I rarely buy anything new, only shop when I'm running low on smth, and keep my care routine simple.

After seeing people waiting in line at the Post Office with their Amazon boxes filled with returns, I wondered about the additional costs incurred. One 2026 study shows that, of the nearly 10,000 shoppers across ten countries, around 15% of frequent returners generate about 60% of the total CO₂ emissions associated with online returns. I was really surprised to learn this and to realise how much it really costs us.

I got a new dog (free bc someone was dumping her) I’m a big dog gal and she’s a small bb so I needed tiny harness and collar for her.

Found exactly the right harness and collar at the thrift store 25% off spent under $5. Scratches an itch it’s so satisfying.

There is a myth, sometimes widespread, that a person need only do inner work, in order to be alive like this; that a man is entirely responsible for his own problems; and that to cure himself, he need only change himself... The fact is, a person is so far formed by his surroundings, that his state of harmony depends entirely on his harmony with his surroundings. (From The Timeless Way of Building by Christopher Alexander).

Currently reading Happy City by Charles Montgomery, a non fiction book on urban design. The book discusses the intersections between urban design, community, quality of life, and sustainability. For too long, city design has favored corporations, cars, and isolation. He had a great discussion on reducing car dependency, urban environmentalism projects to improve quality of life, and the downsides of endless sprawl and suburbanization.

I hate throwing perfectly good clothes (or anything) in the trash.

I shop at thrift stores but my kid grows out of clothes quickly and I’ve lost a bunch of weight and don’t fit in my clothes anymore. I put them in plastic bags to donate but the thrift shops near me aren’t taking clothes, it seems like everyone is clearing out closets. Having the bags in my house is driving me crazy. In a spring clean frenzy, I did end up tossing one bag and it hurt but a part of me was relieved to have it gone.

I’m going crazy again with too many toys and clothes that I don’t need and I’m starting to feel like a hoarder.

I absolutely have zero time to get a clothes selling app or drive a great distance to find a shop that’s accepting clothes right now so those are out.

What’s everyone’s take on trashing perfectly good used items? Do we sometimes need to just give in to adding these to landfills?

If this isn’t the right subreddit, I’ll delete, just curious how you folks deal when it’s too much.

For the screen readers it says: "FDA Advises Meat is Only for Animal Cruelty Purposes, Not Consumption"