Let me give you a piece of advice. Since you are still young and you do not have enough experience to make a lot of money. Because before it was not a few dollars that you mention, but hundreds of dollars. Advertising revenue has dropped so much. I thought the same as you. I was young and naive. Companies also have little money from advertising and therefore they simply cannot hire you and pay you a lot of money. Think about making a lot of money while you are young and full of energy. I am about 50 years old and I can not work hard anymore as in my youth. It becomes harder to make money with age. Think about the fact that none of those people who come to your site without advertising will give you a dollar in your old age. They will forget everything. Start being a serious adult. You are responsible only for yourself, but not for other people who just come to your site, and you do not have enough money to enjoy life while you are young. This time will quickly pass and in old age you will remember that you did not earn a lot of money in time.
I want to stay young and naive. I want to die poor and let people simply visit my site and hopefully earn something at a personal level. I care about human connections, I care about interacting with people via email in an honest way. If I’m not going to earn a living by doing that so be it.