No one asked - Then go the f*ck of my Website.
But... - No but's.
This is more for people I know and for everyone who ACTUALLY wants change.
Vote with your wallet:
If you now say this will change nothing, I'm only one person. Do you say the same in your daily life to the important decisions? Without getting political you know of may moments were you could say that too, but many small decision by many people add up to big decisions. It is true. You alone will not change much immediately, but why suffer under bad services and practices and complain all the time instead of improving your circumstances and futureproofing and improving your own experiences?
Subscription services for videos, music and books suck and are to expensive, just buy the media directly. If there is no direct way, well then it is "unavailable media" and as it is not lost media you can just buy it second hand, or get it second hand. You can help your favorite artists for the future and if at any moment you have less money available you don't lose access to all your favorite media. Buying over time is cheaper and better then paying every month too much for bad quality and not even owning it and losing it at the brink of financial instability.
Products suck and, your data, the second currency, is what you pay with. If you think you do not care, you will be the first one crying about being called, mail'd or send letter after a leak, or even worst, get identity theft-ed. Just don't be part of it. Yes, this is actually harder then just voting with the wallet, but you can buy products that are fair to you and there workers or just but older hardware second hand (often cheaper and if you do A LITTLE research you can get a broken and easily reparable one and fix it / let it get fixed). Money is no excuse here. I lived a few years with the bear minimum, often less, on money and time as I was still studying and even I could do it. If time is even shorter in your life, because life, then let other do the research (internet blogs and videos about reparable and good device/services/ways of doing things are out there (Just make sure it was not sh*t out by a static garbage producing, self intoxicating algorithm)) and just buy them. I know that is extra work on top but if you think about it, if you "cheap" out at the beginning buy a more expensive, less reparable, worse new product and have trouble later because data leak, subscription prices or hardware defects, what was really gained. Time? Money? Both will come back and demand more for the same mistake again. A reparable device will work far into the future and can be fixed if needed. You own it and don't pay anything over time and with some extra work you can learn about custom systems and follow a guide on how to flash stuff like LineageOS, /e/OS, …, mod or install Linux and lose even less time and money at the end. Bonus: No one will force you to buy new hardware for a feature that is not even used and no one needs AND you gain skills which you will appreciate in life Sooner then later.
Stop letting yourself get sucked into rage bating and doom scrolling:
News, social media and so much more is and was made (maybe unintentionally) to keep you scrolling, watching and reacting. You gain literally nothing out of it. There are artist making videos, music and movies, no matter there sophistication or quality, you can enjoy on your own terms and not at the hand of an algorithm. There are exceptions when it comes to social media. There is often not really a good way to reach the audience you want to reach without using the platforms these community's are gathering on. In such cases you can and should use these platforms to show and tell and more importantly link to what you are doing and gather an audience, but don't fall into the trap of using the platform. Bring the people to your own website and making them aware of the art you create what is important. Make yourself get heard but keep it at that. Those platforms were made to connect people and find new art but should always be treated as an connection point and not as the hub as many do it nowadays.
I will stay away from all this bs. as far as humanly possible, but the people I work with are correct in that to bring this project into existence and into a possible state of release, I will need to reach the community to, at least to some extent, get to a point of financial justification of the endeavor. And this brings me to my next point.
Don't pretend to life in an ideal world scenario, but try to make it one:
Support the artist directly. The artists can be a person or even a group of people or a company but not the company's in between. Many works of art can only be completed with budget which necessitates middleman's to to get them to an end. U should not support that and cause projects to me mainstreamed or generalized for mass consumption, but U have to accept to some extend that this is the world we live in. Don't play in the system of contentification and mass consumption, fight against it but don't let your art and work get under the wheels because of it. We all live only so long and if you can not finish the project of your dreams or bring your message out there, then no one will hear you. Use the systems you have to use, to get yourself out there, fight against them as much as you can without hindering yourself.
What to make of this:
I know at the end of the day you will lose some time here and there, need to play Tech-Support for yourself or even fix things yourself. I mostly focused on products, technology, art and tools but this can be applied to literally everything in one's life. The “Don't think”-Lifestyle always exisited, but only became more popular recently and be honest, you can invest a little time into you tools you use and need instead of just watching TV or mindlessly consume content. I don't say things were better in the past, they were 1000% definitely NOT, but being a lacy mindless consumer became much more popular over the years. I know that everyone needs time to relax. But relax dose not mean consume. But, sometimes, you just have to invest time into things. No one forces you to do everthing immediately. Things can be noted down and done over as much time as you need.
And one more thing: I don't know [INSERT RANDOM THING] and don't want to learn it. I just want to use it. Well, then don't complain. No excuse.
The only exceptions are extreme life situations were time is everything. Then nothing except your time matters.