There is a difference between blindly consuming something and consuming something you need to consume anyway.

At least i'm not buying pants every month.

Btw. you know who is buying my stuff? My wife :P

I'm not blindly spending money? I'm doing research for specific items. I then research the brands, the materials, the makers, etc. Yes, this is more than most will do, but I'm definitely not giving it my payment info or trusting its recommendations out of hand.

That said, for specific queries—e.g. "I need a linen sportcoat that is beige/natural. What are some brands? My price range is $XXX"—it is very good.

I was tired of getting flat tires on my rider mower, but I was a little afraid of replacing it with the wrong thing. Fed Claude the parts manual and ended up with some good flat-free recommendations.

Got something that fits and is working: something that, even if I'd done some more homework on my own, I might not have gone with because I would have been hung up on finding a perfect, 1:1 replacement.

We all outsourced our spending to “robots” (via targeted ads) a decade and a half ago.

Nah. Ad blockers are your friend.

Ad blockers do absolutely nothing against fake reviews, fraudulent claims, sponsored articles and influencers manipulating you into buying stuff.