SUB-SCRIPTion Snare

On repeat

The next level of the rat-race in this strange farce of a new technological transhumanistic world is the SUBSCRIPTION SNARE.

I used to be able to buy the adobe software, one and done… same with a computer and all its apps that now trap you with renewals and updates. (please excuse my likely improper use of any “technical” lingo)

Everything has turned into a subscription that you can’t get out of if you want to use those features and it’s out of fucking out of control!!! (I know you feel this and can probably agree a curse word was more than necessary)

Everything is turning into a repeating subscription. The whole world is for rent. I saw somewhere you can rent a couch or rent the “heated seat” feature in a car…so let me get this straight, that feature is there and you bought the car BUT if you want to access the feature inside the car then it’s extra? (insert eye roll here, I think I would not choose that vehicle)

Every platform, every service, every product wants to suck you in to the repeat, automatic, no thinking required, no action, just auto-pilot easy button of cha-ching……they hope you’ll forget it and set it, while the subscription keeps on keeping on.

We’ve gone from Charge it (as cleverly engrained into our subconscious by the Flintstones) to Renew it or Lose it, via saved data somewhere…Venmo, Zelle, Cash app, PayPal…whatever. It’s no wonder digital currency is the next tightening of the noose; we’ve made it easy for them by participating in our own treacherousness and inability to be inconvenienced.

How many times have you forgot and had to send an email along the lines of: oh wait, I didn’t authorize this OR damnit, I forgot to login and cancel that after the “trial?” A whole new world of problems arising and time wasting for something that is supposedly “optional” or intended to make life “easier” (and we all know how well the easy button sells).

Many companies no longer have a phone number and if there is one then you have to spend 1+ hours and 44 prompts to maybe find a human who sounds robot’ish and can’t help you.

Monthly bills used to be: water, electric, phone…. how did we get here?

We’ve turned into a society so superficial it can’t commit to anything except the non-committal committal nature of subscriptions.

Subscribe to get your:

-       Clothing

-       Food

-       Music

-       Books

-       Photos

-       Entertainment

-       Dates

-       To use your phone or computer

-       To use the apps on your phone or computer

-       To save the passwords to use the apps on your phone or computer

-       To do anything

At least with digital books you buy the whole book, but if on Amazon I’ve heard they take most of the profits from the author? I don’t know, but when is enough, enough?

And how exactly do musicians make what they deserve in a proper value exchange for the $8.99 a month Spotify subscription? Something is very off here? I’m oblivious to how that works, I admit. Why does everything come down to the number of “hits” and “followers” inside the hive-mind of the masses over individual listener preference…. like when we used to buy a whole CD or Album because we liked one song and weren’t mad about it because it was the right thing to do.

I don’t even understand the whole NFT thing and don’t want to. If I’m going to buy a piece of art it’s going to hang on my wall, the end.

It’s not easy to minimize your subscriptions, which is what they hope for, I assume. That, in itself, is a committment to organize, but you can probably rent-a-bot to organize it for you…I’ll pass.

The advertisers are falling in line:

-       You can get this product for a “special price” but ONLY if you subscribe.

-       Clever influencers spin the advertisements and promotions in a way to make it look “grass roots” or “genuine” when it’s just acting…it’s a LURE.

-       Once you are hooked by the lure, you find yourself on the website only to realize the only way to buy the product is to commit to a subscription. Ugh, I just want to try it! I guess I’ll add a note in my calendar in 29 days of the 30 to cancel (just something else to add to a to-do list)

-       Just drink this shake and you too can look like the model (influencer who sold their soul) …but only with a subscription, wink-wink.

We’ve known for years that fitness centers (aka gyms, durh) get you with that “membership” …eh, hem (aka subscription) and will remind you how out of shape you are during key times of year (Hallmark Holidaze), then reel you in with the 3 months for the price of 1. Their membership marketing manipulation technique has transcended over into every other walk of life and business, the cat was definitely let out of the bag.

Rent-the-Runway and many other’s try to make you think you’re being more sustainable, but it’s just a ploy to get you renting and subscribing via false virtue and a sense of doing something good…which is a lie…but you have to dig deeper to see it.

So much of this new “lifestyle” mindset has normalized:

Annual fees
Renewal fees (and increases)
Extras – Add-on’s – exclusions – inclusions – delusions
Service Fees (and other fees that sound like something, but I don’t really know what they are)
Technical Help Fees

The dystopian nightmare where the powers-at-be want you to rent a pan for cooking or the air you breathe. They will try to rent the free natural resources on your own property back to you as they run out of new things to charge you for…I know, I know, let’s compartmentalize everything in existence and charge a fee until everyone just bangs their head against the wall in absolute surrender by reaching maximum levels of frustration.

I started thinking about this after the Freedom scale shared this video that outlines a dreadful potentiality of “Utopia” where the data tracking and control has become a tool to fine you instantly every time you break the made-up rules for engagement…I mean enslavement. It might seem far-fetched but I wish we were much further way from this than we are…check it out here:

This Is Exactly Where We Are Headed.

The algorithms advertise to you based on the data we give them and what we “subscribe” - or agree to is wrapped up inside of this whole state of affairs. I don’t know if it’s true, but apparently even the comments on social media are manipulated to appeal to you in a different way than your friend looking at the same post.

The sway to pay, the propaganda potions, the not-so-fun funnels, the bogus but gorgeous-gurus of grandiosity, the fake viral inFLEW-in-cers, and the subscription schemes are the new-thing.

But hey, it's not all bad… 😉

Being someone who always looks at both sides of a situation, there is an upside to subscriptions and those are:

-       It’s great for individual creators who desire sharing their creative work or building a business online and formulating an email list to be able to communicate with “subscribers” – which, like on Substack, usually has a free component.  A lot of people are desiring genuine connection with others and we can’t deny that this technological age is a part of our reality. Finding ways for true value exchange is possible, especially when maintaining authenticity inside the fake digital world of caricatures and clowns…be the antithesis.

-       It’s great for connecting with those who appreciate your work online and can be a tool for connection, collaboration and meaningful dialogue and exchanges. Being able to make friends anywhere in the world is beautiful and can help us find like-minds beyond the confines of our own geographic areas.

-       It forces you to stop and think about what monthly expenses you want to incur, thus, in a way forcing you to think about what you really want to spend your money on. This, at least for me, has prompted me to ask myself questions about where my attention, energy, and money is going, and why.

-       Cleaning out spam and endless emails by hitting the unsubscribe button is a reverse dopamine hit feeling of deep satisfaction. 😊 Instead of looking at this madness as negative, use it as an opportunity to commit to what matters most to you and enhances your life. Clean out the subscription clutter once and for all, let go of the junk, get yourself out of a funk…and dive in to what matters (you don’t have to become a monk.)

-       It gives you an opportunity, as the subscriber, to show appreciation for creators online that speak to you, inspire you in some way…and hopefully also support them in other channels that are available. In a society where so much is at your fingertips and many want something for nothing, we must recognize the value, unique creative essence, and effort by a real living being. Support life by subscribing to creatives…. for they give substance, beauty, richness, meaning to this realm of producing and consuming…it’s long overdue to return the balance.

-       It creates community via platforms like Patreon, helping people escape the 9 – 5’s. Just remember to be YOU and stay true to your integrity, authenticity and mission because not everyone will like you, get you, follow you, support you, and that’s ok!

This only touches the surface of this topic, but ultimately to subscribe is to take part in a sub-script, meaning that this agreement invites another’s script into what you are authoring in your own and that can be a wonderful thing in this co-creative place we all share, something that brings us together…. or it can be a distraction, money drain, obligation, or snare.

The new way everything is being marketed as a subscription is normalization of not owning anything, a constant siphoning, which is beyond problematic for more reasons than I can cover here.

Do we need a subscription to anything? No…but like so many things we don’t really need, here we are having one stupid-magical-weird-poignant-meaningless-meaningful-irrational-rational-beautiful experience inside this play of life and with that, sometimes the script must change.

All that being said, I hope you’ll subscribe to my channel (HA HA HA HA) and if you already do, thank you…I TRULY appreciate you being here with me.

With love and buy me a coffee so I can keep writing,

~ Angela