Growing up, one of the first “adult” things you learn about is the unavoidable disappointment of the real world: Bills. It stinks, but you still had a while until you had to deal with it, at least.
Well, now we are adults, and it still stinks. But hey, it’s the world of technology now, we have all the budgeting resources at our fingertips to manage it!
Except, now that the budgeting program requires a subscription, you have to include the budgeting app in your budget.
In my mind, “grown up” finances are split into two categories: “big,” consistent bills, such as a mortgage, rent, car payment, insurance, etc., and then “smaller” purchases you make each month.
Ideally, once you account for the big purchases, you know how much you have left for your smaller ones each month. In theory, things like Netflix would be under those smaller purchases, and maybe 10 years ago, it was. But now, when everything requires a subscription, how “small” can you really label them?
I’m sure you know the feeling — you’re trying to watch your favorite TV show, and you look it up just to discover it’s only available on some random streaming service you’ve never heard of. Or, maybe it’s available on one of the streaming subscriptions you do have, but not the “version” you’re paying for.
How can I be paying for everything but have access to nothing?
Today, cable has effectively been replaced by streaming services. What’s been left even further behind, however, is owned media. The days of DVDs, VHS tapes and CDs are long gone. So if you really want to watch that favorite TV show, you’re most likely going to resign and get that random streaming service.
And it goes far beyond what we watch on TV. Everything is asking for a subscription.
It feels like I can barely download any apps or buy any products without paying for a monthly or yearly subscription. In the past week, I’ve downloaded apps for planning, financial tracking and even a mental health log, all of which immediately informed me I’d need to pay a monthly fee to actually use 95% of the features.
As annoying as the sneaky app subscriptions are, what’s even more frustrating is the amount of products that require subscriptions to use them to their full capability. My $200 Hatch alarm I got as a Christmas gift? Yearly subscription. My Birdie safety alarm I got for my keys? Yearly subscription. I recently found out that Oura rings, which are already $500, have a monthly subscription. Even newer cars have introduced subscription models to use all of their features — features that are already programmed into the vehicle, just inaccessible until you pay the fee. You can spend $40,000 on something and still have features hidden behind a monthly paywall.
Beyond these subscriptions being clear evidence that these billion-dollar companies are still nickel-and-diming their customers, it also means we don’t actually own these items. We may have purchased them, spent hundreds or even thousands on them, but if we can’t fully use the item unless we buy into their monthly fee, it isn’t truly ours. At least with those “big” finances I mentioned earlier, such as a mortgage and a car payment, you will eventually own the house and car. (Except, now even the car may be on a case-by-case basis … )
These “little” monthly payments quickly become big monthly payments when you factor in how many you’re buying into, making it easier to spend money that you don’t have because it’s just $5 here and there. Soon enough, you’re paying $50 monthly on random things, without counting your six different streaming services you have to have if you want to watch anything.
Perhaps the biggest culprit in getting people to spend money they don’t have, however, is the “buy now, pay later” services that pop up every time you place an online order. Why pay $20 for your DoorDash when you can pay $5 for four months? You can place that big Amazon order you’ve been looking at since it’s really only $30 outright, and you can just pay the rest later after you get paid. Except that it sets off a slippery slope of overspending, since these purchases don’t seem expensive. Then, your $50 a month on random subscriptions really doubles because you financed things you wouldn’t have bought otherwise. And, once again, you still don’t really own these items until you finish your payments.
As college students, most of us are just now learning how to budget our money and be more financially independent than we were at home. On top of that, we’re at an age when we want to be cool and keep up with trends as they come along. So, financing your new clothes lets you seemingly get more for less and paying for a subscription to watch the show everyone’s talking about doesn’t even feel like a big deal. All of these monthly payments are the price of keeping up with everyone else.
It may be easier to criticize the consumers buying these items, but the audience is not the problem. You can laugh at the people buying a $200 alarm clock to begin with (I still love it, though — laugh all you want), but that doesn’t actually address the bigger issue. In a society full of Instagram comparisons and influencer sponsorships, we do place value on image and status. While you personally may not, it’s undeniable that those pressures exist in our society — especially for people our age.
I would say that most people in college care about their image. I’ll be the first to admit that I do, at least. How can we not? We’re still figuring ourselves out — who we want to be, what we want to do, our goals and aspirations. We develop those things from experiences and the people around us. Because of this, we are the target demographic for companies to market to. And despite how mature and put-together we may feel, we’re still young and impressionable. Especially in the digital age, we are constantly told to think about our digital footprint following us into our future careers and not presenting ourselves in any way we wouldn’t want future employers to see. If fitting in feels like the easiest way to get through each day without risking our reputation, then sometimes fitting in is the best we can do.
It’s not our fault for buying into the system we exist in — it’s the billion-dollar companies’ fault for finding any way to get an extra dollar out of us monthly, yearly or for the rest of our lives.
Flannery Lemmonds is a sophomore at UT this year studying advertising. She can be reached at [email protected].
Columns and letters of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.
