I think ads are a major component of this but not the only one. (See a recent top HN post about chumboxes. It is hard to not become cynical.) You also have: -

I think ads are a major component of this but not the only one. (See a recent top HN post about chumboxes. It is hard to not become cynical.) You also have: - growing complexity beyond the comprehension of a person resulting in fear of unknown - plain old disinformation and conspiracy theorising - an abundance of brain dead behaviour on the part of technology creators (see the recent article about the glovebox you can only open from the touchscreen) - plenty of bad behaviour on the part of corporations I do not think the techlash is unjustified yet I think technology is an inseparable aspect of humanity. I think the main cause is a crisis of misaligned incentives which on the surface are coherent. The corporate social structure is no longer capable of functioning as an engine for betterment of humanity.