This is a new one. I've never actually seen a website admit that autoplaying videos are a punishment for users they don't like, rather than a way to try to attract users.
autoplay: punishment
ads: punishment
algorithmic timeline: punishment
idk how this affects the average person but makes me want to pay money even less than i did before, and i started at zero
That we've moved from a model of making people want to pay money for something they desire and instead forcing them to pay money for something unavoidable. Less like selling someone a new toy and more like a utility bill.
I was searching for a babysitter in Copenhagen the other day, as one does, and the only services on the internet force you to pay a subscription just to access their database of people. There's no alternative, no real sales pitch, no guarantee that you'll even get what you want. Just "you have to pay us for the chance that someone else will be able to provide you a service".
I think it's an inevitable part of the separation of humanity out of every piece of society, turning it all into mediated transactions where you're more an aggregate number to be sold to another business than a person.