This Is Peak Subscription

In the 11 years I’ve had a Netflix subscription, it didn’t occur to me until a few weeks ago that I could just cancel it, or that I might want to. For most of my adult life, the service has functioned as something of an entertainment utility: first, because I was far too broke to afford cable, and then, once Netflix turned on its fire hose of original shows and movies, because everyone seemed to be constantly shrieking about House of Cards or Stranger Things or Tiger King. The price crept up over the years, but paying for it has felt like the cost of doing business, if that business is understanding what the hell your friends are talking about during the first round at happy hour.

Then I bought a new television. If you haven’t had to do that in the past three or four years, as Netflix’s streaming competitors have multiplied and attracted tens of millions of new users, an annoying surprise might await you. One by one, you will have to recall every streaming service you currently pay for, download