Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can.

Subscriptions are necessary in other to keep up with the pace of the modern world. We subscribe to streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple Music and Spotify. We subscribe to other people’s opinions through follows, newsletters, subscriptions. We subscribe to software like Microsoft Office or Creative Cloud in order to be able to do our jobs. We subscribe to popular trends through social media groups and public forums. We subscribe to having a roof over our heads through mortgage and rent. We subscribe in order to be able to retire. We hardly own anything in the modern world, and yet, we seem to be the more complacent than ever.

The world of subscriptions relies on the fact that its consumers are never truly satisfied. Subscribers are never content because they know something newer and shinier will come out soon enough. They keep their Netflix subscriptions on the off chance they might encounter a hidden gem, or if they want to rewatch their favorite show (once it’s available again). Followers keep refreshing their feed to make sure their favorite influencer didn’t post in the meantime. Subscribing as an idea represents the conscious gamble of your time and money, riding on the evermore present experience of FOMO (fear of missing out). “Winning” would be the subscription having a use (in the practical sense or in the form of a dopamine hit). As Thomas De Zengotita cleverly puts it in his book Meditated: “We need mobility among the options because they are only representations. And that means they are no more than they appear to be. And so they are never enough. And that’s why more is on the way. Always. <…> That’s why you’re always ready for the next show, even before this one is over. That’s why, in the midst of a fabulous array of historically unprecedented and utterly mind-boggling stimuli – whatever”.

The most important questions that come up are: Why do we subscribe, and how does subscribing make us feel?

I believe we subscribe for many reasons. One is practical, for big investments for example – we cannot afford to buy a house or a car in one go, so we rent or mortgage. But what about things that aren’t as costly? Why do we choose to give up our autonomy and let a third party with vested interest decide for us  whether we want to keep purchasing their services every month? It is the perception of value. Netflix, Amazon Prime, Playstation Plus, and other streaming services promote the ability to provide access to thousands (and sometimes dozens of thousands) movies, shows and games, and all that for a nifty $10.99. But personally, I cannot remember a time where I finished a movie on Netflix and felt so compelled and satisfied that I couldn’t watch anything else after it. It’s also why the binging habit became so prevalent with the mainstream public – we just keep trying to scratch that itch, and never seem to be able to succeed.

It has become extraordinarily difficult to make informed decisions nowadays, for the simple fact that we have too many options. While being able to get informed and make the best purchasing decision for us is the very basis of free market, we seem to have trapped ourselves in an endless loop. For example, going back to the streaming service example, there are dozens of services for streaming movies and TV shows on the market, and each one has thousands of shows to choose from. However, not every service offers the exact same shows. So, as a consumer, you have to do your research and decide between the price and availability of shows. But even those change over time, and you’re rarely informed (or willing to be informed) about such changes. Then, once you’ve chosen your service, you’re faced with a seemingly infinite number of options. For most people, this is overwhelming, and they simply don’t end up using the service. This is a psychological phenomenon, where your likelihood of making a choice decreases with each added option. In the modern developed world, we are overwhelmed by options. It’s much easier to simply give up the decision-making to someone (or something) else. Subscribing gets rid of the hassle of choosing which cinema to go to or what movie to watch, which clothes to wear and the logistics of getting there; plus, it’s cheaper. The perception of greater value for money masks the hidden costs, which goes beyond that of simply forgetting to cancel your subscription.  

Humans are very prone to biases – among which is also our perception of quality. If we pay more for something, or if we see it as hard to come by, we see it as more valuable. This is true both from the psychological and economic perspective. If we consume more of something, we tend to gain less satisfaction from each subsequent “portion”. This is an economic concept referred to as The Law of Diminishing Returns. How does this relate to our topic of subscriptions, though? It’s very simple: if you know that certain books, movies, shows and other media are easily and readily available, your perception of their “value” will decrease. Think about all of the art posted for free on social media. Artists put hours, days, weeks, into their pieces, only for people to take a second or two to observe them, maybe give a like, and then keep scrolling. Some of those art pieces were probably mindbogglingly good, but how many would you call a “masterpiece”? Probably not many, if any, since they’re not displayed in a fancy gallery that you had to pay money to visit. Apple has applied this psychological concept for manufacturing of perceived value through the use of spaced-out displays in their shops, making each product seem more important than it actually is.

This bias makes things we subscribe to disposable. Don’t like the movie? Stop watching midway. Don’t like your favorite YouTuber’s newest video? Leave after two minutes. Don’t agree with your friend’s take on a social issue? Block and unfollow. Digital subscriptions take the physical disposability of plastic straws and paper cups to the whole another level. They offer so many choices, and their consumption take little to no investment, so they’re easy to throw away. Why would you have to tolerate imperfections when you could simply click on the next offering at no cost and see if that’s better? Greener pastures are out there, somewhere. Probably.

Subscriptions are perfect exploiters of our vices – they make us choose at every step of our way, they make us insatiable and benefit from our laziness to cancel the monthly payments. Why do they do this? Because it’s an infinite money making machine – they only need to convince you to commit once, you keep watching and giving them watch-time (or not, in which case you’re not clogging up the server traffic), they collect and sell your user data and the money keeps pouring in regardless of if or how much you use the service. No wonder every big name media company is rushing to grab a piece of the pie.