What we really need is for people to be way more distracted and absorbed into media at all times of the day than they already are AND for there to be no detectable way to know they are distracted to everyone around them. The frustration of being constantly ignored combined with the urge to constantly have information or entertainment streaming straight into your cortex will mean that everyone is even more isolated and lonely than they have ever been before and are therefore easier to radicalized! Can’t wait for the new techno-pocalypse!

There are alternatives that are arguably better.
You can play the exact same puzzles as on the NYT site without giving them your traffic. There are archives of their puzzles that you can play for free. If you like connections, go to https://www.connectionsunlimited.org/. For wordles, go to https://wordlearchive.com/. Just Google for archived versions of your favorite games.

Then there’s also other publications that have puzzle games live this. For example, as I like the mini crosswords, there’s a student publication, The Observer, that has these mini crosswords too: https://fordhamobserver.com/category/fun-and-games/daily-mini-crossword/.

Supporting the tech workers at NYT doesn’t mean you have to give up your daily game addiction

200: “I gotchu, bro. Here you go. Have a good day.”

401: “You’re not on the list. Get lost.”

402: “Pay me or get lost.”

403: “Everyone get lost.”

404: “You are lost.”

500: “Ooopsss.”

501: “Knew I forgot something…”

504: “I can’t do this shit all day.”