As the old saying goes, if something is free, you’re not the customer; you’re the product. It suggests that the only thing actually being sold is your data and engagement. True as that might be, paying with data or ads (instead of blocking ads) is usually a win-win scenario in my eyes.
This won’t be everyone’s view, but as a millennial, I remember the days when there was very little free digital entertainment. If you wanted legal digital content or good games 30 years ago, you invariably paid money for them. These days, the vast majority of digital content I consume is free. I do have some paid subscriptions, but between things like gaming, YouTube, social media, and especially podcasts, I get endless entertainment at little to no financial cost. That will never fail to impress me. And it’s not like there weren’t ads in the pre-internet age. We’re just asked to pay a bit more attention to them now in exchange for a free ride.