By Lily Keeley
In a digital age where conveniences are key, premium subscriptions are a golden ticket to a better online experience made by developers. With over 1.8 million apps that are available to download, many offer a premium plan such as Spotify Premium or Snapchat Plus. The three most popular subscriptions for teens are Spotify premium, Snapchat plus, and Grade way plus.
With that, many high schoolers have at least one out of these three subscriptions. The reasoning behind these purchases are reasonable, or they are according to the students. Some benefits that come with Spotify Premium include the ability to skip as many songs as you want, being able to listen to the exact song you want when you want it, ad free music, and offline listening. Snapchat+ is another heavily persuaded premium plan. The benefits that come with it are access to more personal wallpapers, being able to set a chat wallpaper with a friend and having the ability to change the home screen icon. With so many benefits that come with premium, purchasing one for a frequently used app is the way to go, with many teenagers, children, and adults agreeing.
At Ponte Vedra High School, 15 out of 20 students interviewed have at least one premium subscription on their device. Although many of the student’s parents pay for the subscriptions, it still took persuasion to have them make the purchase. Avery Webb, a junior at Ponte Vedra High School, said she recommends Spotify premium because, “it allows you to skip songs without worrying about how many skips you have left, you can queue whatever songs you want to hear, you can share playlists with your friends, and you can pick the exact song you want to listen to when you want to listen to it.” One membership that Spotify offers is their family pack, for $19.99 a month that can house up to six premium memberships. This allows parents to not only get Spotify premium so their kids can stop complaining, but they themselves also get to enjoy in the ad free listening. Spotify also offers individual, student, and duo accounts, all of which can be cancelled anytime.
Another premium subscription that many students have is Grade Way Premium, which costs only $5 a year. This allows students to access their GPA, as well as show users how upcoming grades can impact their class averages. It also comes with scholastic benefits, and the subscription also allows users to change the “theme” of the screen in the app, as well as the color of the app icon, which many enjoy for aesthetic purposes.
“It allows you to skip songs without worrying about how many skips you have left, you can queue whatever songs you want to hear, you can share playlists with your friends, and you can pick the exact song you want to listen to when you want to listen to it.”
Avery webb (11)
Snapchat is one of the most used apps for most teenagers, so inevitably they have multiple plans for snapchat+; they offer a monthly plan, for $3.99 a month, an annual planform $2.50 a month, and an ad-free monthly plan for $14.99 a month. These premium packages allow so many more opportunities to make life easier and more enjoyable, even if it is just online, by allowing you to customize the apps based on your preferences, and adding quality of life provide changes to using apps.
Purchasing premium offers an abundance of benefits that can significantly better user experience. For example, in streaming services where ads can disrupt the flow of movies or music, having no ads can be particularly valuable. Additionally, premium users usually can get access to exclusive features and content, such as early releases and advanced tools. The investment in premiums can also provide safer app use, while the subscriptions usually come with enhanced security features. Exclusive content with premium subscriptions can include early releases of shows, or movies for streaming services, exclusive playlist, on music apps, extra storage, or advanced features on social apps.
Premium subscriptions can provide many things, which is why so many teenagers and other people want to purchase them. At PVHS, two out of ten students knew how much they were paying for their subscriptions, and only one out of the ten were paying for it themselves. According to forbes.com, nearly 50% of people in the United States pay for premium subscriptions, some paying for up to four subscriptions per month. With almost two million apps available, premium subscriptions can be beneficial for people of all ages. Whether the app is like Snapchat or Netflix, they all enhance the user experience which is what downloading an app is all about, having something you can enjoy.
Pictured: Snapchat premium advertisement
