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Please Unsubscribe, Thanks!: How to Take Back Our Time, Attention, and Purpose in a World Designed to Bury Us in Bullshit
Kindle Edition
Published August 8, 2023
About the author
Julio Vincent Gambuto
7 books18 followersJulio Vincent Gambuto is the author of the viral essay series “Prepare for the Ultimate Gaslighting,” which sparked a world-wide conversation reaching more than 21 million readers in 29 countries. A moviemaker by trade and training, Julio has written, directed, and produced film and television content for The New Yorker, Nickelodeon, PBS, E! Entertainment, Samuel Goldwyn Films, Beta Films, Stone & Company, and Kerner Entertainment. He is a graduate of Harvard University and earned his MFA from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where he was an Annenberg Fellow. Prior, Julio worked as a marketing communications writer and consultant, and co-founded TAYPE — an after-school arts program for LGBTQ+ teens. He lives in New York City. Please Unsubscribe, Thanks! is his debut book. Learn more at www.juliovincent.com.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 13, 2026
This book is catty and ranty, and I loved it. The tone is sharp, unapologetic, and occasionally biting. It feels like someone finally said the quiet part out loud. If you prefer gentle self-help, this is not that. This is more of a cultural wake-up call. The author captures a truth many of us feel but rarely articulate. Life feels relentless. We now live with 24/7 access to information and constant digital stimulation, encouraged to be continuous consumers of both content and products. The author calls this a “click-up economy” built on speed, where a digital world creates the illusion of having no limits.
We have handed over much of our society to big forces, especially brands, which use big data to keep us consuming. Consumption no longer just means buying things. It means becoming a subscriber. Subscriptions automate our spending and our attention. Even more striking is the concept of “people subscriptions” through social media, where we must examine what we are actually receiving emotionally: praise, love, acceptance, validation. We call this progress, yet relentless consumption traps us in an infinite loop. The COVID-19 pandemic, which the author refers to as “the circus,” disrupted this pattern and removed many of our usual distractions. For a brief moment, the machine slowed.
The second half offers a practical, step-by-step guide to unsubscribing, moving from the easy forms of disengagement to the harder, more structural ones. It challenges readers to start small, with digital boundaries and consumer habits, and then gradually examine deeper dependencies on systems that shape how we spend, work, and seek validation. Unsubscribing is about making ourselves less dependent on the system and setting boundaries so the system works for us, not the other way around. In a world built to keep us clicking and subscribing, choosing less may be the most rebellious decision we can make.
Favorite Quote:
“Managers respond well to proposals, not complaints, to solutions, no not more problems” (p. 179)
We have handed over much of our society to big forces, especially brands, which use big data to keep us consuming. Consumption no longer just means buying things. It means becoming a subscriber. Subscriptions automate our spending and our attention. Even more striking is the concept of “people subscriptions” through social media, where we must examine what we are actually receiving emotionally: praise, love, acceptance, validation. We call this progress, yet relentless consumption traps us in an infinite loop. The COVID-19 pandemic, which the author refers to as “the circus,” disrupted this pattern and removed many of our usual distractions. For a brief moment, the machine slowed.
The second half offers a practical, step-by-step guide to unsubscribing, moving from the easy forms of disengagement to the harder, more structural ones. It challenges readers to start small, with digital boundaries and consumer habits, and then gradually examine deeper dependencies on systems that shape how we spend, work, and seek validation. Unsubscribing is about making ourselves less dependent on the system and setting boundaries so the system works for us, not the other way around. In a world built to keep us clicking and subscribing, choosing less may be the most rebellious decision we can make.
Favorite Quote:
“Managers respond well to proposals, not complaints, to solutions, no not more problems” (p. 179)
Displaying 1 of 1 review