… essentially all of the ad supported sites I visit are diversions. They’re entertaining and informative and amusing and above all absorbing, because that’s what the modern web has driven such sites to be, but they’re not essential or even important; they’re just how I pass time on the Internet right now. These sites are very good at getting me to visit and to spend time on them, but while that is (currently) good for the sites that is not necessarily good for me. In many ways I’m a rat pressing a lever for an intermittent reward, even if the reward is fun; it’s almost all a giant distraction that drains my time in little increments.