In 1931, Aldous Huxley wrote a dystopian novel titled “Brave New World” where the dystopian nature did not come from how tyrannical the government was, but from how convenient everything was. People in the novel were able to get everything with instant gratification without needing to think or be patient when indulging in their unethical hedonism.
The advent of streaming and subscription services has shown just how such instant gratification can shut our minds off to corporations treating us like dirt. People no longer care about companies taking so much of their money while giving very little in return. As long as they get to have a service they want or need, why would they care?
Two companies come to mind when thinking about use by college students: Netflix and Adobe. Starting off with Netflix, it is ridiculous how very little you get from how much you pay. Netflix used to compete with Blockbuster Video by sending DVDs in the mail until 2007 when they started streaming. It was and still is more convenient to select something to watch on the internet than it is to wait for a DVD to come in the mail or to go to a store and rent one. Both options were cheaper than buying all the DVDs you wanted to watch.
Although Netflix has always been a subscription service, their practices have been getting worse and worse. Blockbuster Video was also technically a subscription service, you were getting a whole lot more for the money you were paying.
I remember loving Blockbuster Video as a child and being so upset when the store in my city closed down. I also remember being so excited when a DVD came in the mail from Netflix. While I still stream movies and shows online, I still miss the wholesome feeling of physical media and the ritual of going to the store or checking the mail.
Now with everything being online, you can not own anything and it is easier for companies to take things off of Netflix than it was for them to remove DVDs from Blockbuster Video. Netflix’s catalog used to be so much better a decade ago. I remember being able to watch so many older cartoons from Nickelodeon on Netflix, but now most Nickelodeon shows need to be viewed on Paramount+. I still like a lot of the things on Netflix, it is just heartbreaking that companies can take all the things that make a service special and commodify them to the point of it losing all of its charm.
Adobe is another subscription service I feel is unwarranted. Before 2011, Adobe products were a one-purchase product which could lead to more art being created for a cheaper price. Now Adobe products are subscription-based leading to the company getting more money and less art being put out with the products.
Because Adobe could make their products subscription based, they did. This shows no respect for the customer and only a company seeing dollar signs in those who support them.
It seems there are more subscriptions and advertisements online everywhere I look. Applications on the App Store used to cost a little bit of money but be a one-purchase product. Now most applications I see are free but require a subscription service. It is not worth engaging in this type of nonsense. The dystopian world people fear is George Orwell’s “1984” when Huxley’s “Brave New World” was manifesting in front of their faces.
Nico Brazill can be contacted at
nbrazill@kscequinox.com
