I left, too. I don't really like social media, but I had just found the right mix of stupid but funny accounts to follow. I was checking Twitter every day. But I deactivated my account the day after the deal went through. I'd rather move on than patronize something owned by Musk.
I've had Youtube Premium for as long as I can remember. I subscribed to Google Play Music, and they had a promotion for free Youtube Red with a subscription to GPM. I've kept it continuously since then, for free, and I've never seen an ad. I forget that Youtube even has ads until someone else puts a video on. I've also watched a lot of Youtube. I've seen every RedLetter Media video at least twice. This is all anecdotal of course. Maybe I've just gotten lucky.
This is the exact reason I didn't buy a Samsung smart TV 2 weeks ago. My wife reminded me about ads, so I looked into using Pihole. It wasn't guaranteed to work, so I went with a brand that won't run ads on a TV I paid for. That is a big pet peeve of mine. I hate ads, and refuse to watch them if I pay. I don't pay for the privilege of viewing ads.