Subscription fatigue is a very real phenomenon that I started paying attention to several months ago when some videos showed up in my YouTube feed. People are tired of being forced to rent their life.

Before anyone accuses me of being a hypocrite and points out that I offer a Premium option, let me just say that I closed my Premium membership today. I think it will become clear why in this post.

So why is subscription fatigue spreading? I’ll give you a few examples from my own life.

Reasons for Subscription Fatigue

First, I have experienced the frustration with a few different people I truly like. So none of this is meant as a slam against these people. I’m simply pointing out what I’ve observed and experienced on the other end of it.

• One person I support on Substack recently also opened a Patreon where much of his content is now located. I already paid a generous amount to support his Substack for a year and I’m not paying another $25+/month to access his growing Patreon content vault. When my yearly support runs out, I won’t be supporting him financially at all. I understand why he did it, but as a user it is really frustrating.
• Another YouTuber I like also has a Patreon. I created a Patreon account solely so I could sign up for his Patreon. I signed up for the free level because his paid levels are pricey. But most of his content on there is paywalled and I am tired of constantly receiving emails that I can access all of his content if I upgrade to a paid member. I’m unsubscribing from his Patreon the next time I get an email notification.
• Another successful website owner I’ve followed for a long time recently opened a Patreon with multiple membership levels. Reading between the lines, I suspect she received a fair amount of blowback because she quickly changed it to one level at a very low price.

So I feel the subscription fatigue on the user end and can observe it as well.

Second, the subscription model has become onerous. I was asked this week to subscribe to our HVAC service company for $17.95/month. Several months ago we opted in for a $2.99/month house-related insurance thing that is now going up to $17.99/month. And on and on. People can barely keep up with their subscriptions and become upset when they realize how much money they are leaking each month. We have very few subscriptions compared to most people and even then I’ve been reducing the number our family has because they are a drain.

Third, the subscription model has peaked. I have been trying to build something here for the long-term. Subscriptions are not it. Supporting people no longer feels like a positive but one more hoop to jump through.

That leads me to the fourth point which might be the most important one. The subscription model strikes against the heart of what I’ve been trying to do here for 20+ years. I have tried memberships multiple times over the past 12 years and they don’t work for me. I thought being done with homeschooling might change that dynamic, but it doesn’t. I would rather sell a good ebook or printable at a good price in a one-time exchange. It feels more authentic to the idea of simple living.

I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do moving forward with my website. Getting rid of the Premium paywall means I allow the bots and AI scrapers to access my content all the time. That was one of my main motivations in using a paywall – the ability to write freely for my readers and not have my ideas stolen and displayed elsewhere off my website. I know one very popular Australian blogger retired, came back, and then quit again over the scraping of her photos and content. Moving forward, I may just focus on writing small ebooks on various topics that I don’t want scraped. I really don’t know. The entire thing is so frustrating and demotivating.

So if you are feeling subscription fatigue, you aren’t alone. It’s a very real problem and it will be interesting to see how it plays out in the months and years ahead.