Off to _____ : What's The Harm?

Everything you do online — every page load, every click, every scroll in an app's feed — can send money to a corporation or government agency doing things you might not like.

Ad Revenue: When you click on an ad, and sometimes when you simply see an ad, money transfers from the advertiser to the ad network. For example: When you're scrolling through content on Facebook and seeing "sponsored" posts (ads), you're making Meta richer, and they can use that wealth to do things you might not like. Same thing with Instagram. And so on.
Infrastructure Service Fees: Many sites and apps use services from Amazon Web Services and other "infrastructure as a service" offerings from Big Tech to build whatever it is they're offering you. By using those things, even if you're not paying for them, the developers have to send more money to Amazon (or whatever platform they built on) to support your usage. If you don't think that's a big deal, check out Amazon's reports about their earnings, and compare the "Amazon store" part to the AWS part.

When you go offline — truly offline, no checking your phone or sharing in-the-moment photos — you completely cut off that revenue stream to Amazon, Meta, Google, Apple, and so on. Reading a paperback novel you bought at a yard sale? Nobody's bank account is getting fatter. Playing cards or board games with friends? You're not lining anybody's pockets. Planting some vegetables in your garden because this time you're going to get them to grow right? Your activity isn't supporting companies and agencies doing things you think are awful.

This isn't "the olden days." This is the 21st Century, and technology companies have decades of experience learning how to make money from your attention. What happens when your attention is elsewhere? They don't get any money, and money they don't get is money they can't spend on things you would never want to support.