Don't Subscribe So Casually

Summary

Most people pick subscriptions the same way they pick snacks. Subscriptions, however, are more like roommates than Oreos. Anything you subscribe to gets a small, recurring vote on who you become.Being conscious of this has been worthwhile throughout the modern era of subscriptions, but the rise of chatbots — which can be customized, tailored, and packaged to become even more addictive and to amplify the negative effects of subscription models — makes revisiting the issue especially important. I don’t think people think of ChatGPT as a normal subscription: it’s shiny, new, and powerful, but from a financial perspective — and from the perspective of the company’s incentives — it’s just another Netflix.If someone offered you a magic button that gave you ten dollars now, but carried a high probability of altering your tastes, your routines, and the way you think, would you press it?A subscription is that button.A poignant scene from Black Mirror, “Common People”Buying a thing—like a kettlebell, a tablet, or a Chihuahua-sized raincoat—is relatively easy because you can just weigh the pros and cons of that specific item. Granted, advertising exerts a major psychological influence, and clever store layouts prove our purchasing whims are, to a large extent, manufactured. But there are straightforward strategies to overcome these psychological foibles: don’t shop when you’re hungry, wait a week before hitting “buy,” and return the items you never use.A subscription is an access pass to some sort of good, like a selection of TV shows or warranty plan. It is inherently future oriented: you are purchasing a set of possibilities for a future time period, thereby giving your future self more choice. This gives you additional options, yes--- which is the favorable part of the equation--- but it also changes your future behavior, sometimes substantially.There’s no clear delineation here between because all goods change your psychological makeup. The presence of a physical object do...