Not an excuse, but an explanation: ignorance.
Most people don’t know how ads or data collection works beyond the obvious uptick in a product after you search for it. They don’t know what impact it might have.
Full disclosure: I’m mostly in this camp. I only recently started using firefox over chrome, for example. I know that big tech collects obscene amounts of data, and monetizes it by targeted advertisements, but…beyond that, I don’t know what FAANG can do with the data collected on me. I only have a vague idea of what’s being collected.
I floss and brush religiously every night, have for many years. I had a cavity when I was young and the whole experience was terrible.
I still ended up with multiple cavities as an adult.