YSK : Dark patterns among large companies are becoming more mainstream ( youtu.be )

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.

nom_nom_nom_9999 ,

So, this is the way to get make the most of your investment

Blackmist ,

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.

Sunny ,
@Sunny@slrpnk.net avatar

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.

UckyBon ,

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.

Carighan ,
@Carighan@lemmy.world avatar

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.

Ultragigagigantic ,
@Ultragigagigantic@lemmy.world avatar

Youtube face.

People feel the need to monetize everything in their lives just to survive (not thrive). Consider directing your anger towards those who have purchased our government from us. Rather then being mad at the digital equivalent of a dude on a highway offramp holding a cardboard sign and begging for living expenses.

JimboDHimbo ,

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.

asteriskeverything ,

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

JimboDHimbo ,

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

circuitfarmer ,
@circuitfarmer@lemmy.world avatar

But at a certain point, it's still a cop out. And part of the trick. If you drown anyone in enough bullshit, you can't expect it to all get called out -- but that doesn't mean it's not all bullshit. It is divide and conquer in another form.

egeres ,
@egeres@lemmy.world avatar

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

ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

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?

braxy29 ,

the bad news is that, despite growing up with pc's and having had some level of troubleshooting skill as a result, i have forgotten most of it in the last 10 years as computing/tech has become pushy and handholdy. i suspect this is not uncommon.

edit - but i still miss xp. 😔

Ilovemyirishtemper ,

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.

capital ,

It’s definitely a thing.

https://www.theverge.com/22684730/students-file-folder-directory-structure-education-gen-z

Hugh_Jeggs ,

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

pop ,

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

EncryptKeeper ,

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

NOT_RICK ,
@NOT_RICK@lemmy.world avatar

Windows 11 is rife with it

I_Fart_Glitter ,

Why do I have to tell my computer several time per week that I do not wish to let the X box app make changes to my computer?? I've never had anything to do with an X box. Oh, now you're going to make my computer unusably slow unless I update and.. what's that.. ? I can't fucking update unless I ALLOW X BOX APP TO MAKE CHANGES TO MY COMPUTER??? Fuck you windows 11.

henfredemars ,

Sounds like it’s not your computer.

To be clear, I do believe it is your computer, but it sure sounds like it isn’t.

I_Fart_Glitter ,

It's X box's computer now..

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