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[–] 3 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

I avoid subscription fatigue by not subscribing (unless it's a utility).

My policy is to refuse all subscriptions outside of 1 MMO of my choice. I can only subscribe to 1 at a time, though.

I pirate everything else. It's been very easy and more convenient than actually subscribing since my friends can actually watch stuff with me and there's no "household limits".

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  • [–] 5 points 10 hours ago

    I don't have a subscription fatigue, but I do have subscription anxiety because I do not have a stable income, so I never know if I run out of money next week or next month.

    I used to "subscribe" (set up monthly autopayment donations) to Signal messenger, animal shelters, mental health for veterans in Ukraine, and paid membership in local ecoactivist group; did this because non-profits benefit from recurring donations more. But I had to cancel all of that too.

    So right now I am at 0 digital subscriptions (no streaming, no premium, no AI, no memberships etc.)

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  • [–] 3 points 9 hours ago

    I have no issues with subscriptions, but people need to remember YOU ARE IN CONTROL, ensure it provides you value.

    I have Kagi, Ente, Proton. I consistently evaluate other options, comparing it against self hosting.

    Apply this to netflix, if it doesn't provide you value or they up the price, it's okay - You can cancel and look elsewhere...

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  • [–] 35 points 22 hours ago (1 child)

    You have to be aggressively not paying attention to anyone else on Lemmy to feel like you're the only person with subscription fatigue.

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  • [–] 5 points 16 hours ago*

    My recurring bills, in the order of decreasing cost

    • Taxes
    • Rent
    • Electricity
    • Water
    • Hetzner VPS
    • Home internet
    • Mobile

    And I'm planning to cut out rent (will be replaced with property tax and maintenance tho) and the hetzner VPS within the next year, because it feels like too much already. I don't know how people pay for like a dozen things every month.

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  • [–] 8 points 18 hours ago

    ⛵🏴‍☠️🦜 Yarr

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  • [–] 18 points 22 hours ago (9 children)

    How to deal with subscription fatigue:

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  • [–] 9 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

    I've gone all-in.

    My source of fatigue is now maintaining updates to my own jellyfin, mail, webdav/carddav, wordpress, xmpp, backups and whatever else I'm selfhosting to escape this hell.

    Then the wife goes out and gets Netflix and Disney+ anyway.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 hours ago (1 child)

    That is the biggest problem.

    I changed the Netflix subscription from 3 screens to 1 because no one was watching it. No one noticed for 3 months, then suddenly two people wanted to watch different Netflix content at the same time and I was the biggest criminal ever!

    I haven’t told them that UniFi monitors network traffic and there are still whole months that no one watches Netflix because then I will be accused of spying on them. (Which I technically am, but since I pay the Internet and streaming bills…)

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  • [–] 2 points 3 hours ago*

    There should be a law stating that you need a minimum number of hours using a subscription before you can be billed for it. At a minimum they should tell you how many hours you're using it each month.

    I would genuinely sub to 3 streaming services, xbox live and a gym if I knew I wouldn't get billed unless I used it.

    Unless it's a genuine commitment (e.g. my baseball team) there should be zero cost for zero use.

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  • [–] 4 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

    damn...her collection is bigger than mine

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  • [–] 4 points 16 hours ago* (1 child)

    Futureproof comics (and all fiction really) by making the numbers bigger than currently realistic - works only for a little while.

    Jellyfin itself, however, will become a household name.

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  • [–] 1 point 12 hours ago
    [–] 14 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

    I’ve decided I’m not participating in anything that bills me on a recurring basis unless I absolutely have to. Phone bill? Have to. Car wash membership? Absolutely fucking not. Mortgage? Yes. Meal delivery plan? Fuck you. Internet? Necessary. Walmart + membership? STFU Walton Goggins!

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  • [–] 11 points 22 hours ago

    We dropped all our streaming and a lot of other subscriptions and honestly haven't missed them. We changed how we did a few things, we buy less in general, and buy from more local places. And rely more on free groups and other similar resources. Mostly we've accepted a bit more inconvenience and delay (if I really want to watch something I'll see if it's easy to get online, otherwise we'll buy a dvd from a place, ask around on our free groups, or order it used on ebay (which is still bad for a few reasons but I'd say not as bad as amazon)). Sometimes it's annoying when we really want to watch something tonight and it's a week out at soonest but it's not a big deal.

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  • [–] 4 points 18 hours ago

    I don't because I just don't subscribe to it all. Keeping track of all the services they talk about at work that I don't pay for is bad enough.

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  • [–] 12 points 22 hours ago (6 children)

    I cannot stand the local charity groups trying to sign me up for a recurring subscription donation. I'd happily give them 50 bucks one-off, but I can't, so they get nothing.

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  • [–] 0 points 9 hours ago

    They don't do this maliciously though or to increase shareholder value like Disney. Charities are genuinely exhausted with fluctuating monthly income dependent on what's in the current news cycle. They can't plan how many help requests they can accept this month if they don't know how much they get next month.

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  • [–] 2 points 16 hours ago (1 child)

    I’m sure they’d be happy with a one-off donation of any size. I don’t think it’s the charities that are the main problem when it comes to subscriptions…

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  • [–] 3 points 14 hours ago*

    No. The charity muggers in my country come around to my door, or meet me on the street, and they will not take a one-off donation. They want you to go for a 12 month (and self-renewing) subscription of direct debit from my bank account or credit card that requires time and effort on my part to alter or cancel.

    And while they are not the main problem, they are a symptom of the subscription epidemic. When I cannot simply give them 50 bucks because they do not have the means (or willingness) to process it, that is a definite sign that subscriptions have gone too far.

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  • [–] 5 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

    Yes, because these charities want money to pay their employees. You can’t hire someone with a one-time donation. They need reliable, recurring revenue to pay employees.

    A proper charity, such as a food bank, soup kitchen, women’s shelter, animal rescue, is very happy to get one-off donations because they are spending the money on supplies and direct action, not on growing headcount.

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  • [–] 6 points 19 hours ago (1 child)

    That is very simplistic. There are a lot of other recurring costs that charities have - even the ones you mentioned have to pay rent at least. A women's shelter probably needs professional employees. Some charities have to operate planes and boats and those are very expensive. The most important thing is - recurring contributions help them plan long term and realistically gauge if they can take on more projects.

    Also, calling a monthly donation a "subscription" is stupid. You didn't sign a contract - you can just stop giving the money whenever you want.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 hours ago

    Generally those recurring costs are covered by large donors or governments. They may even simply be given a space to use without having to pay anything for it, and by relying mostly on volunteers they can keep overhead extremely low so that donations go straight to purchasing supplies or paying for contract work (vet surgeries, for example). Some of them are even run out of a person’s house, as I’ve seen with a rabbit rescue.

    A woman’s shelter may need a few staff but they definitely do not need full time professionals such as doctors, nurses, or counsellors. Those services can be provided via donations or other charities. While I’ve never been to a women’s shelter (I’m not a woman) I have benefited from charity-provided counselling at times when I could not afford to pay for it out of pocket.

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  • [–] 8 points 22 hours ago

    And now the expectation is that we pay an AI monthly subscription to manage the other subscriptions. This means giving the AI your power of attorney and banking details. What could go wrong?

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  • [–] 3 points 19 hours ago*

    I had subscription fatigue back in the late 90s after playing both UO and EQ at the same time.

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  • [–] 4 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (2 children)

    My subscriptions:

    -mobile phone paid monthly

    -internet/isp

    -vpn

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  • [–] -4 points 17 hours ago (1 child)

    that's nice if you live with your mother and don't have to pay for insurance, water, property tax, energy, gym/library, periodic maintenance, financial services, other taxes, ...

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  • [–] 1 point 3 hours ago*

    You are well aware that the term is about tech/digital. ie: netflix, spotify etc

    What kind of sh*thole country do you live in where you have to pay to use a library, and why "gym/library"?

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  • [–] 0 points 16 hours ago

    You can tell your bank and subscription provider to figure it out between themselves and leave you out of it.

    Do you trust any bill-sender enough to do that? I don't.

    Just another reason to go to the dark side.

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  • [+] -1 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)