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Selamat datang di episode ke-25 TWS! Kolom di mana saya menuliskan pembelajaran sepanjang minggu lewat hal yang saya lihat, dengar, dan rasakan. Let’s go!

THE END OF SUBSCRIPTION

Wait, what subscription? Mine. Yes, my own Instagram Subscription. Hah, why?

First of all, I want to thank all my subscribers. You, yes you! The one who got access to read this stuff. Thank you for becoming my subscribers. Thank you for enjoying things I created exclusively for you. Thank you for believing in me and in our cause to fight brain rot. It’s been a great journey! But sadly this would end early next month.

Don’t get me wrong. I love curating articles, I enjoy writing this kind of TWS, and I took great pleasure in creating Sekilas Kelas every month. Maybe I’ll keep writing TWS in one form or another, maybe I’ll create some kind of exclusive content in another platform, but Instagram Subscription is, sadly, no longer works for me.

Some factors are at play on why I decided to end IG Subscription. First: the Instagram platform is not suitable for me. Second, kind of related to the first factor: growing it is so damn difficult, especially for me. Third: I had to refocus my energy to my longer-term plan in life.

Why isn’t Instagram Subscription suitable for me? Because, first and foremost, my content is a text-based content. I simply love to write! In a perfect world, I’ll write newsletter on Substack and monetize it. So I can focus on the thing I enjoy the most: writing. Instead of spending too much time in making it insta-friendly, designing it in insta-format, even after it gets published, I still have to spend much effort in making sure the content gets delivered to all my subscribers.

Sadly, this is not a perfect world. While I could write a free newsletter on Substack, monetizing it is basically impossible. Substack used Stripe for it’s payment processor, and Stripe doesn’t serve Indonesia, not 5 years ago, not now, not in the near future. Talk about the curse (or the tax) of simply being born as WNI, huh? As if living as WNI not difficult enough.

The second part: the stagnant growth. I tried, I literally tried many things to make this works and grows. Sadly, it’s hard. I’ll share more about this on the next post but basically: the things I need to do to make this work, are not the things I’m comfortable with.

Sederhananya gini, berdasarkan riset ke kreator yang subscribersnya bertumbuh dahsyat, kuncinya cuma ada empat: (1) lo selebriti dan mau mengeksploitasi parasocial relationship dengan followers lo (which I won’t); (2) lo jualan tete kayak di OnlyFans (which I don’t have); (3) lo jadi akun gosip yang menawarkan gosip-gosip underground yang gak terverifikasi sambil sok-sok jualan info A1 (which my ethics won’t allow me to); (4) lo harus relentlessly promote it in basically every content, every single day (which goes against my value).

So I’m basically stuck. The odds are against me.

Terlebih lagi, saya juga lagi mau fokus ke beberapa rencana jangka panjang dalam hidup. Saya suka sih nulis dan bikin konten eksklusif untuk subscribers, tapi setelah saya hitung-hitung: it took immense energy & time. Setiap bulan, untuk mengkurasi bacaan, menulis TWS, dan bikin Sekilas Kelas, saya harus menyisihkan sekitar 20-25 jam, mostly on weekends.

Untuk nulis TWS aja deh, misalnya, itu baru ada waktunya entah di Sabtu malam, atau Minggu pagi. Kadang bisa 2-3 jam sendiri. Risetnya, nulisnya, rapihinnya, sampai sebarinnya. Dua puluh jam sebulan, jujur lebih baik saya pakai buat rebahan (dan merenung kenapa saya terlahir WNI), saya habiskan sama anak dan istri, atau kembangin beberapa proyek dan rencana jangka panjang saya yang selama ini tertunda.

TERUS SUBSCRIBERS MESTI NGAPAIN?
Well, basically you don’t have to do anything. I already checked with Instagram, the moment I deactivate my subscription (on 7th November), it would archive all exclusive contents, notify all subscribers, and will be refunded for the current month.

Jadi tenang aja, gak bakal ada ceritanya subscribers rugi, kok. Your last month will get refunded. Semacam transaksi kartu kredit yang direversal.

Jadi, ini adalah Things Worth Sharing edisi ketiga terakhir. Edisi kedua terakhirnya minggu depan, 26 Oktober. Final episodenya? 2 November. Setelah itu masih ada beberapa hari untuk baca dan nikmati konten-konten eksklusif saya, sebelum hari Jumatnya (7 November) saya bakal deactivate subscription. Setelah itu?

CREATIVE DESTRUCTION

Belakangan, saya lagi senang ngulik soal karya dan pemikiran pemenang Nobel Ekonomi tahun ini. Jadi, ada 3 pemenang Nobel Ekonomi tahun ini. Meski ketiganya bicara tentang the continuity of a long-term economy growth, sejatinya ada dua ide besar di sini.

Yang pertama dari Joel Mokyr, yang bicara bahwa sejarah membuktikan pentingnya ide dan inovasi dalam kemajuan ekonomi. Yang kuncinya adalah bagaimana kita mengorganisasikan pengetahuan. Lewat propositional knowledge dan prescriptive knowledge. Propositional knowledge bicara soal mengapa suatu hal bisa terjadi (basically why science matters!). Prescriptive knowledge bicara soal pengetahuan yang praktis, teknis, dan bisa dikomersilkan, yang memungkinkan propositional knowledge tadi bisa dikembangkan menjadi inovasi-inovasi yang membuat kehidupan jadi lebih baik. Ilustrasinya begini:

Nah, dua pemenang lainnya adalah Philippe Aghion dan Peter Howitt, yang bicara soal konsep creative destruction yang dibutuhkan untuk mendorong pertumbuhan ekonomi jangka panjang. It was such a brilliant concept, stated by the Nobel Prize Committee themself here:

The other half of the prize is awarded to the economists Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt. In a joint publica­tion from 1992, they constructed a mathematical model of how companies invest in improved pro­duction processes and new, better-quality prod­ucts, while the companies that previously had the best products are outcompeted. Growth arises through creative destruction. This process is creative because it builds upon innovation, but it is also destructive because older products become obsolete and lose their commercial value. Over time, this process has fundamentally changed our societies – over the span of one or two centuries, almost every­thing has changed.

Intinya: creative destruction is needed. Akan selalu ada yang terhancurkan dan tersisihkan di balik inovasi dan teknologi baru, tapi itu justru membuka ruang ke banyak hal baru yang membuat ekonomi jadi terus bertumbuh. Hal yang awalnya baru, lambat laun juga akan menjadi tua dan obsolete, lalu dihancurkan lagi oleh penemuan-penemuan berikutnya yang lebih baik. Sebut saja alat komunikasi, yang awalnya faksimile, lalu ke telepon, lalu ke telepon genggam, lalu ke telepon pintar. Di masing-masing penemuan baru, ada penemuan lama yang akhirnya tersisihkan. While sad, it is very common and much needed in maintaining economy growth.

Kuncinya apa? Memberikan ruang dan dukungan yang cukup bagi sains, riset, dan inovasi. Sesuatu yang hari-ini ini justru perlahan menghilang di banyak negara.

Mirip-mirip konsep Dewa Siwa kali, ya. Sometimes, desctruction is needed for something better to happen. It’s a never ending cycle.

Maybe, just maybe, my decision in ending my subscription, is the necessary creative destruction for something better to happen in the future! hehehehe..

Rekomendasi Bacaan

What Climbing 214 Mountain Taught Me About Goals – Bloomberg (Gift)
Bayanginnya aja mager duluan. But a good read on goal setting!

How to Live a Long and Happy Life as an Introvert – NYT (Gift)
Kunci kebahagiaan kan relasi sosial, ya. Lalu, introvert gimana?

Autism Diagnosis Over Time – WSJ (Gift)
How autism cases rose as diagnoses morphed over time.

America is Sliding Towards Illiteracy – The Atlantic (Gift)
When parents became “too kind” to kids, their education suffers.

8 Simple Rules for Beating Digital Exhaustion – HBR (Gift)
Mesti apa biar gak digitally burn out? Nah, ini dia…

Are You More Likely to Die on Your Birthday? – The Pudding
What the hell? A great visual like usual by The Pudding!

How Media, Words, & Silence are Weaponized by Israel – Mother Jones
Bagaimana media bias sukses menyembunyikan genosida terang-terangan.

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Sekian TWS kali ini.

Semoga bisa membuat akhir pekanmu lebih berwarna dan seru.

Minggu, 19 Oktober 2025