Most young people did not subscribe on purpose once; they subscribed twelve times on purpose-ish. The classroom win is turning “I think I pay for that?” into a labeled list without public shaming.
Use Mallory as the character who feels clever until the totals stack, and Cari as the one who needs a simple rule when cash is tight: what turns off first, and what is non-negotiable?
Keep everything hypothetical or use teacher-generated examples. If you demo a real phone settings screen, use your own device or a district-owned profile, not a student’s.
Tie the habit to Financial Literacy Month without turning it into a lecture: subscriptions are recurring spending; recurring spending belongs in a calendar, not only in memory.
Categories beat guilt
Buckets help: essentials, learning tools, entertainment, fitness, “forgot what this is.” The debate is classification, not morality.
Ask what evidence would change a keep decision: usage logs, annualized cost, or overlap with a free alternative.
Safety and privacy guardrails
Never require screenshots of real accounts. If students journal at home, keep instructions opt-in and guardian-aware.