At the beginning of the 21st century, consumerism grew with the rise of technology. Computer software was a booming industry and companies took advantage of this growth by moving as many products as they could online instead of having physical copies (streaming vs DVDs, online newspapers vs physical newspapers).
The world was amazed by the convenience and low cost of this implementation but neglected to think of its future impacts. Today, the companies hosting these services are stripping features, preventing usage and jacking up prices.
One of the most recent examples of this has been Netflix with their first drop in subscribers in the past 10 years. With the movement towards less popular content and uncompetitive pricing, Netflix has been holding the weakest customer retention in the streaming industry.
Senior Arsh Manazir shares his experience with streaming services. “My family still has a Netflix account but at this point it’s rarely used. Most of my online entertainment has just boiled down to Disney Plus and YouTube,” he said.
Along with streaming, there are many other services that have fallen to corporate greed.
An example of this is software applications which have almost always been sold in the same way as physical products. Buying a product should give you ownership of it. Recently, though, companies have been exploring methods of increasing their revenue while keeping product quality the same (similar to filling a bag of Lays with more air and less chips).
Adobe’s suite of photography/cinematography applications has pursued this model with the idea of “software as a service.” Rather than paying once for a product, Adobe requires you to pay every year to keep your license active.
The premise behind this approach is that each year, Adobe will add more features, release more applications and provide better customer support.
In actuality, though, the features are minimal on a product that has been developed for years, rarely do users need more bloated applications and most users have been acquainted with their products for years, reducing the need for customer support.
Senior Vinay Joshi provides insight into ways we can combat these issues. “I think the only course to correct this is staying away from these products. If companies are not putting out anything innovative when asking for more money, customers should just stay away instead of giving in,” he said.
People today have fallen to the fallacies of the corporations from which we buy. But rarely do people have the will to step away from them.
Twitter is polluted with verbal toxicity, yet people stay for its quick consumption rate and ease of access to celebrity lives. Apple sells locked in products that prevent users from experimentation, yet people stay for its seamless ecosystem and convenient connectivity across devices.
We are all slaves to these corporations because they provide irresistible offers to keep us tied in. Although we have come to realize the chain that has been shackled to our wrists, why would we ever leave when they are willing to provide us with things we can not live without?
