We Own Nothing And Pay Forever

Life "cycle"

There was a time when you bought something, and it was yours. Simple as that.

You bought a car, a DVD, a video game, a piece of software, and you owned it outright. No recurring payments, no digital overlords deciding when you could or couldn’t use it.

Fast-forward to 2025, and everything—absolutely everything—has shifted to a subscription-based model.

We’ve sleepwalked into an economy where ownership is becoming a relic of the past, and in its place, we have a never-ending cycle of payments.

Pay Or Leave

At some point — it’s hard to pinpoint when exactly — corporations realized something big:

Selling a product once means getting paid once. But if they could convince people to rent rather than own, they could get paid indefinitely.

So, they stopped selling things outright and started offering ‘access.’

Now, this isn’t inherently new. “Rent” has been part of the living experience for a very long time. So have a few other forms of “renting” things or services, like money, credits, and more.

But nowadays, it’s crazy.

Back to the realization from companies. The pitch was simple: "Why pay a large sum upfront when you can pay a little each month?"

It seemed logical, even convenient—until it became clear that we were being locked into an ecosystem where we never stop paying.

Tech Was the Perfect Fit

Look at your phone, laptop, or even your smart home devices.

Software companies have fully embraced the subscription model. Once upon a time, you bought Microsoft Office, and it was yours.

Now? You pay for Microsoft 365 every month. Adobe Photoshop? That’s a Creative Cloud subscription now. Apple, a company that sells some of the most expensive hardware on the planet, has turned to services. Apple Music, iCloud storage, Apple TV+—all subscription-based.

But those are the OLD things, really. We all knew these were coming.

Streaming services, once seen as a cheaper alternative to cable, have now multiplied to the point where you need five or six different services to get the equivalent of what cable once provided. Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Prime Video—the list keeps growing, and so do the monthly charges.

And they still show advertising now! Again. You used to pay to get rid of those.

Gaming has followed suit. Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Plus, EA Play—if you want access to games, you’re paying monthly. And even if you buy a physical disc, there’s a good chance it still requires an online account, updates, or some form of digital verification that ties it back to a company server.

Even Tesla, once the poster child for tech-driven cars, sells vehicles that come with features locked behind a paywall. Want full self-driving mode? That’ll be a subscription. And other manufacturers followed suit.

Heated seats? That, too, can be a subscription. The hardware is in your car—you just don’t get to use it unless you keep paying.

You Don’t Own, You Stream

Music, movies, books—almost nothing is truly owned anymore. This started early on.

Spotify has replaced CDs and MP3s, Netflix has replaced DVDs, and Kindle has replaced bookshelves (and very recently decided to remove downloads).

The catch? The moment you stop paying, all of it disappears. You don't own the music you stream, you rent it. You don’t own that Kindle book, you’re just licensed to read it until Amazon decides otherwise.

People who invested in something digital learned this the hard way when services shut down, taking the entire content library with them.

Even now, if a company loses rights to a movie or song, it simply disappears from your library as if you never had it.

Renting Everything, Even Work

Even how we work and live has been subscription-ized.

Need a ride? Subscribe to a car, finance a car, or pay per trip via Uber. Buying is too “expensive” anyway.

Need a place to stay? Rent via Airbnb.

Need workers? Hire gig workers who are essentially renting their time and skills with no ownership of a stable job.

There was a time when people aimed to own homes and have steady employment.

Now, the rental and gig economies have made transience the norm. Housing prices have skyrocketed, leaving many with no option but to rent indefinitely.

Car ownership is being replaced with leasing models and car-sharing subscriptions. Because cars are more techy than ever, and the price (and subscription) reflects that.

Even office space is rented by the hour through WeWork-style businesses.

Your House on Lease

Yeah, even the lucky few of us who own a house instead of renting… become renters in some sense.

The rise of smart home technology has introduced a new way to rent basic home functions. Many smart security cameras, doorbells, and thermostats now require a subscription to unlock full functionality. A Ring camera might work out of the box, but if you want video storage or advanced security features, you have to pay a monthly fee.

Something as simple as light bulbs might end up being a monthly payment. Or… well, just sit in the dark.

Our Food Is Subscribed

Once, you went to the store and bought groceries. Luckily, you still can. For now…

But there are meal kit subscriptions like HelloFresh, snack subscriptions like Graze, and even coffee subscription services.

Fast food chains are experimenting with subscriptions too—Taco Bell has a taco subscription, Panera offers unlimited coffee for a monthly fee. If there’s a way to turn something into a recurring payment, you can bet companies will do it.

Healthcare Subscriptions

Hell, even healthcare is becoming subscription-based.

Companies now offer "concierge medicine" where patients pay a monthly fee for access to a doctor. And they make it out to be the next big thing, saving us from healthcare breakdown.

While this might seem like a “good” premium service, this simply introduces a two-tier system where only those who subscribe get timely care, while everyone else deals with long wait times and overcrowded hospitals… or no help at all.

Prescription drugs have also been affected. Subscription-based services offer medication discounts—but only if you keep paying a membership fee. This turns medicine, something essential for survival, into a commodity controlled by subscription pricing.

Pay or leave…

We Liked It

At first glance, the subscription economy looks like convenience. It did. Still does, in some regard. And we loved it. Embraced the hell out of it.

Now, the reality is far more insidious, though mostly obvious:

1. You Pay More Over Time – A one-time software purchase might’ve cost you $200. But now, after five years of paying $15/month, you’ve spent $900 for the same access. And you’ll keep paying, or you lose access entirely. Some companies still offer that one-time deal, but with a catch: You don’t get updates or anything else a year from now. So, one-time deals aren’t what they used to be, either.

2. You Own Nothing – The moment you stop paying, everything disappears. Your music, your movies, your files stored in the cloud, even features of your car.

3. Companies Have More Control – If a company decides to hike prices, alter terms, or remove features, you have little choice but to comply—or lose access. Or change provider. Or… cave in any other way.

4. Subscription Fatigue – One or two is fine. Most would agree, but with everything requiring a subscription, people are feeling overwhelmed with monthly charges stacking up. What started as a convenience has turned into financial death by a thousand cuts. Dollar for dollar, month for month.

5. Monopolization – Since companies control access, they can decide what stays and what goes. We’ve already seen censorship and removal of content with no recourse for users. Catalogs get “updated” consistently.

Breaking the Cycle

So what’s next? Is there a way to break this cycle?

Are we doomed to rent everything forever? Maybe. I can’t count my subscriptions anymore.

But overall, not necessarily. We still have choices—they just require conscious effort. Some people are pushing back, opting for alternatives where possible. Buying physical copies of media, supporting companies that still sell products outright, going for open-source, and being selective about subscriptions may help break the cycle.

And if we want to own anything in the future, we have to start making these choices because if we don’t? The future is clear: we will own nothing—and we will keep paying forever.

Until we can’t pay anymore.