Why don’t we pay for anything anymore?

Photo by Robson Hatsukami Morgan

We’ve always been susceptible to a good deal. What’s different now is that we expect one. We expect a discount on our first order, we expect to borrow a streaming login from someone who’s already paid for it, and we are downright offended by the expectation that we’d have to pay for shipping rather than get it fast and get it free.

This has not only affected the way we shop but the way we consume art and entertainment. In the same way that we’ve been desensitized to the true cost of making a quality good, we’re no longer equipped to calculate the amount of work that goes into a writing a book or delivering a monologue.

Because when the end product is available widely and cheaply, appreciating the time it takes to generate the ideas that become the drafts that one day become the creations is nearly impossible. It’s the same for crafts like woodworking and clothing design. We won’t pay for the real deal because we can get a replica style for half the price in half the time.

It makes sense from a rational standpoint, but in doing so, we’re depriving ourselves of the good stuff, the masterpieces, the one of ones. When art is made to hit a quota, the experimental projects get cast aside. The sure things get prioritized.

This isn’t something we can undo just by seeing a movie or buying a painting. It requires an interest and investment in the people behind the commodity, an understanding of the lives lived to see the world through these lenses. An investment while they’re creating and while they’re just being. While they’re in the studio and while they’re chasing their kids in the park. It’s part of the package whether we see it or not, and it’ll cost you, but it’s definitely a good deal.