this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2024
517 points (97.4% liked)
Technology
60082 readers
3268 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related content.
- Be excellent to each another!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Yes, it probably would've happened eventually, but not as quickly as it did.
But the stuff happening throughout the industry all stems from the same core issue: people are putting up with it. If people stopped paying for predatory products and services, products and services would become less predatory. I don't know what the solution here is, but it seems a large number of people are okay with companies charging subscriptions for things that used to be products. I personally reject it, but I'm just one person.
There are no alternatives. Everything is predatory. Blaming consumers is ignorant.
Believe what you want.
I personally like to look at what I can do as an individual, and what others can do as individuals. Blaming companies doesn't get us anywhere, informing the public about issues can move us toward change. So that's what I'm going to do. But we need enough people to change behavior before companies will change theirs, that's just how these things work.
nah I really think you got it wrong.
big companies spend obscene amounts of money and effort researching how to manipulate and influence people effectively so they can make the most profit they can get away with.
a catchy jingle is an obvious example. not really nefarious (i have strong nostalgia for local business jingles and slogans) tho.
dark patterns on websites are a better example. like how it's really easy to sign up for amazon prime, but canceling amazon prime is impossible to do without having to use a search engine to find the obscure link to the cancellation page.
if you think people influence companies more than the other way wrong, I really gotta urge you to consider another angle.
Eh, I've done it 2-3 times, it's really not hard. In fact, I usually just get their free trial 2x/year, once before Christmas, and once at the start of summer.
I get the general point though, and I do try to avoid companies like Amazon that manipulate people (e.g. I refuse to let my kids play Fortnite).
I look at what I can do and what I can't do. I can avoid abusive companies, education others around me, etc. I can't change those companies' practices. I can vote for politicians I believe will hold companies accountable. I can't make those politicians vote the way I want. And so on. Avoiding bad companies is something I can do, whining about it doesn't get anything done.