That is a portion of the problem, but there are many other factors. I believe the cost of tuition has become a large factor lately. Also, the quest for knowledge has been replaced with a quest for a degree purely for monetary gain and status.
I sympathize with small creators and sites that rely on these kinds of money and are not obtrusive. It's just a test though. I will probably be back on adblocker by default.
That's because people whip it out constantly and almost always where it's not appropriate. It's pretty rare that anyone tries to enact a new standard. So, instead we see this comic use to downplay every time that anyone does anything resembling anything that has ever been done before. Which is to say: to downplay everyone else's efforts. It has long gone past being funny to just being dismissive in it's widespread use.
Only works when you have money lying around