Indeed. Here’s your $50,000 car that casts $1000 a month to operate on top of fuel and maintenance. So really it is a $100,000 car that you put 50k down on and pay off on the installment plan. We are in the enshittification stage of this version of capitalism. We cling to the myth that the system makes our lives better, it did for a long time if you lived in the developed world, but that dynamic has played out. Now we are in the phase where ‘growth’ is mainly found by enshittification.

Some things they don’t care about – e.g. Reddit, Twitter stuff – and some things they just don’t feel like they can affect. If they’re buying a new car, and every single car in their region and in their price range is selling subscriptions, then they’re going to feel like they have no choice.

Now, they do likely have choices – they could buy a used car, or they could look outside their immediate region – but those options may not address their pain points (maybe they really, really wanted a new car), or maybe they can’t afford the time to travel, etc., but the fact that less convenient choices exist don’t necessarily make people aware of them, or feel like they’re real options.

When every company you interact with, and every transaction you make, is like this, it takes up all of your spoons for dealing with this stuff. It wears down your resistance, and makes it feel like it doesn’t matter what you want, just what’s being offered.

I mean you’re right, but it’s so fucking exhausting to care about everything wrong in the world. Gotta pick your battles. Personally I have a semi-decent Jellyfin setup, but I’m not going to berate anyone for taking on a netflix sub if the momentary distraction helps get them thru another day in this dystopian hellworld.