Throwing My Roku in the Trash
The author describes their negative experience with a Roku device, citing excessive ads, a cluttered interface, and degraded user experience as reasons for discarding the device and moving away from the platform.
Background
Cory Dransfeldt is a software engineer and tech blogger (coryd.dev) who frequently writes about digital privacy, self-hosting, and reducing reliance on Big Tech platforms.
Roku devices are streaming media players that plug into a TV's HDMI port, giving access to services like Netflix, YouTube, and various "channels." Roku is a publicly traded company that makes money not just from hardware sales but also from advertising and user data collection via its proprietary operating system and platform.
This post reflects a growing movement among privacy-conscious users to abandon smart TVs and streaming devices—collectively known as "smart tvs" or "connected TV" devices—in favor of more open, user-controlled alternatives. Many users are frustrated that smart TVs (and devices like Roku) show ads on the home screen, track viewing habits, and make it difficult to install custom software.
The author is choosing to replace Roku with an Apple TV, which is seen as more privacy-respecting among mainstream streaming boxes, though still a closed Apple ecosystem product.