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Just because you skip the gym doesn't mean we do 🤓
Chief
I don’t agree with the idea that we’re “renting our lives.” Subscriptions give us access, not ownership, but that’s not automatically a bad thing.
Ten or fifteen years ago, you went to Blockbuster to rent a movie or bought a CD hoping you’d like it. Now, I can listen to an album, save the 4–5 songs I actually enjoy, and skip the rest. I’m no longer paying for 15 filler tracks I’ll never play again. Same with Netflix: I can sample the first few episodes of a show before deciding to commit my time.
Gyms, that’s personal choice; you can cancel if you’re not using it. Social connections, some are transactional, but they can become genuine if you put in the effort. If you stay surface-level, that’s on you.
To me, “renting your life” isn’t about subscriptions, it’s about passivity. If you wake up, work, come home, and isolate, you’re probably renting. But if you wake up with intention, work out, learn something new, build relationships, spend time with family, explore life, that’s ownership. Access is just a tool; what you do with it determines whether you own your life or rent it.
Enthusiast
Addendum: until the invention of the VHS there was no conception of “owning” movies. You caught them in the theater or on tv. So we have come full circle on that count with the improvement brought by streaming service libraries and VOD. I have a beautiful collection of DVDs that I no longer need.
Speak for yourself. I'm a dinosaur gen x, and I have all my songs stored locally on my phone/computer. Same for either purchased movies or DVDs. I have zero subscription services. I work out at home for free. I make my own food ( have never ordered using Uber eats or whatever the other food pickups are, not even once)....
SVP1, love your response! Also, I should say that I wasn't very fair in my response as clearly my take is more of an exception, but glad to hear there are some others out there!
Maybe you should stop speaking for everyone and reevaluate your life choices
Rising Star
Agree with SVP1. The premise of stereotype will never hold for everyone. However, it’s common enough that a large number of companies are moving to subscription-based business models to drive stickiness and engagement rather than relationship-based models, fighting for repeat customers, more traditional means of growth and expansion. It’s a pick-me, follow-me environment which supports the transactional feeling that OP is highlighting.
If you don’t monitor your subscriptions that’s on you. Subscribing to music, videos and services is incredible value to the historic alternative if you actually use it.
Rising Star
I hear you, OP. This isn’t about whether all your examples apply equally to each individual, it’s a notional statement and good question. We’ve overly customized and personalized our lives. People keep what serves them, presumably what they need, and ditch what doesn’t fit or fit any longer. Most everything is transactional and surface level at this point.
Rising Star
PWC1 - I think we can and do. But we (people en masse not necessarily “you”) maybe have put this expectation in too many areas of our lives. My comment is geared towards what I know and have read about the struggles that young (younger than me anyway) people have trying to meet, date, build a relationship. It used to be that “opposites attract” and people learn, grow, change based on their willingness to explore the journey of life. In an overly customized/ personalized environment, we are a lot less willing to compromise (on most anything) and the way a person wants it to be is “the right way,” creating these micro-societies that are insular and actually very limiting for growth, experimentation, openness, etc.
Are you married?
Yeah I miss the good old days when we would buy our own gym and not use it instead of getting a membership we can cancel..
We all owned a treadmill that we bought during Black Friday sale and then turned it into cloth hanger. Then we used to sell it at 40-50% less that barely used machine with strangers walking into our house.
So yeah, owning everything doesn’t make any sense. In old times, town people used to share farm equipment and share resources because nobody could afford everything, we went from that to me me me.
Enthusiast
Guess you’ve never seen treadmills and other workout equipment covered with cobwebs, dust, or perhaps clothes. Just to give one counter-example. Stuff is just stuff. What in gods name is your point?