You Are the Product

When a service is free, you are not the customer — you are the product being sold. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube make money by selling your attention to advertisers.

This creates a fundamental conflict of interest. The platform profits when you scroll more, regardless of whether that time improves your life. Your attention is finite and irreplaceable, yet platforms treat it as a resource to extract rather than a trust to honor and protect.