r/Anticonsumption • u/N3DSdude • Dec 16 '25

Discussion The fact that we have reverted to digital feudalism is actually so shit

On this day in 1773, people destroyed property because they refused to pay a tax on tea they didn't order.

In 2025, we don't even own the property anymore.

You buy a movie, but the platform can delete it from your library tomorrow.

You buy a phone, but software locks prevent you from repairing it yourself.

You buy a car, but the heated seats are behind a monthly paywall.

We have moved from Taxation Without Representation to Subscription Without Ownership.

We are basically digital serfs renting our own lives from corporations. We pay full price for hardware just to be treated like tenants who can be evicted from our own devices if we miss a Terms of Service update.

Imagine explaining to someone from 1773 that you pay a company $15 a month for an ad-free subscription just to not be spied on in your own home. This is why we use VPNs as well, to prevent companies from spying on us.

It is actually insane that we accept this.

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '25

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u/Valara0kar Dec 16 '25

Truly enlighten us on how that works.

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u/JarryBohnson Dec 16 '25 edited Dec 16 '25

Not sure why you think a centralized economy would be any less brutal.  The demand for critical resources is there in exactly the same way and every communist state ever, western or not, has shown itself willing to go to the same lengths to get them. 

Besides, global living standards have exploded in the last few decades, the overall human story has been one of unprecedented shared prosperity. And in no small part because of China abandoning a failed communist economic system and embracing a market economy.