HOLY MOLY thank you all so much for watching! I've been trying to reply to every comment, but it's getting harder with SO MANY people being so wonderful and supportive! If you enjoyed this, do consider watching some of my other videos! I put just as much work into each of those as I did this one (sometime more lol)! thank you all so much again, I still can't believe this has hit 10k!
Loved it. As a record player owner this is something that I've had in the back of my mind for a while but had not been put into words so clearly until now. Good job!
@@anushwah Haha, yeah, the fact that the views are still going up is wild to me lmao. I certainly don't expect my next ones to do so well, but I won't say no to the influx of eyeballs seeing my stuff and becoming aware of my existence lmao!
You know what I miss? DVD extras. Like, the ones that went hard. Bloopers, commentary, the making of, and even the silly little games that helped to extend movie night.
I vividly remember a snowball fighting game on the DVD for Santa Claus 3 that was so hard to control my brother and I couldn't pass the first level lmao
I mention commentary tracks all the time to people when talking about discs vs streaming. I usually get hit with indifference. I love them. Sometimes the tracks were just industry folks patting each other on the back, but sometimes you'd get juicy back stories and inside jokes, and sometimes you'd get a master class on how to direct a film. There are some full commentary tracks on RUclips posted by enthusiasts, and I think the studios should post them for free for listening to while streaming.🤓
The answer is...yes. It's a more enjoyable experience if you get to smell more flowers and different kinds of flowers than less, and spend more money on those flowers.
@@YourGirlYang I think I get what you’re trying to say, but I think it’s missing the point. Streaming isn’t going away, nor should it, but we lose something important when it’s the only option.
@@YourGirlYang Not only that, but you could be guided through smelling a variety of flowers, and told what to notice about each. You could come away with a greater appreciation and understanding of your sense of smell, instead of smelling one rose and thinking, "Hey, yeah, that smells pretty sweet."
Big tech, corporations, and greedy unchecked capitalists and their investors want to optimize everything for their benefit, profits, numbers-go-up, growth, gross income for themselves, and along the way, intentionally or not, fun dies in the process, becoming just another aspect killed by the vampirism that is unregulated capitalism. And its not just the bigwigs and lobbyists and those able to be lobbyists, its also the independent creators, who can barely afford to live and eventually cave in to the stresses and demands and shiny offers of the system, and become soulless, heartless sellouts just to stay alive or survive in the system. This applies also, to the overworked, underpaid, burnt-out employees at many places of employ - especially those corporations.
It's really kind of not though, because you're not listening to music for the experience of finding it and not listening to it. You're listening to it to enjoy music. What you're looking for is collection. Become a collector if that's what you want.
I really couldn't disagree more with this statement. The fun of a cozy game is the experience of playing it. The fun of music is listening to it, not spending lots of money to get your hands on it and having to go through a lot of extra steps to listen to the music. Essentially what you're saying is that you don't like listening to music, you like going through the process of getting the music rather than actually hearing it.
I was born in 2008 and have never experienced the birth of the iPhone, the iPod, the internet, I've grown up with a life of convenience. I realized last year that all this convenience has spoiled almost everything for me, and so Ive been turning away from social media in small ways, from switching to a voice and text only phone to vinyls to making sure I left to go to an event at least once a month, whether it be a parade or a festival or even just going to Barnes and Noble and talking to someone there. This has changed my life in such a profound way, I dont think I can go back.
I think it's wonderful that you've made that change. I think you'll have a deeper and richer life. I didn't have a smart phone till I was in my forties, and I can never get used to constant notifications, and I don't know how anyone can live sanely with the constant interruption!! I've turn them off, or even better, turn off the damn phone and live life!!!
@@emilymann1175 Same for me! I keep my phone on do not disturb mode. I can't stand the constant dings and buzzes and notifications of everything. I've also gotten rid of all social media except youtube. No facebook, instagram, tik tok, twitter, reddit. None of that. I felt 100% better and more at peace once I dropped them all.
Any yet, so many young people claim that us adults are "disconnected" when we argue that these things mattered and still matters. It gives me some hope for the future hearing about young people discovering the joy of interacting not only with physical media, but also the human interaction that often comes with it.
This is why vinyl has made such a large comeback. To be able to hold it, see the cover art, listen to it in its intended order, the ritual. It's not just you mate, this modern era has lost something vital.
@@rexibhazoboa7097 Radios would have come before that, but before radio it was listening to live music. Concerts, street performers, and learning to play the pieces yourself. It's another level of engagement worth keeping around. Of course, most people can't afford to have their own private band following them around playing all the latest hits. That's why radios were such a great addition. Having a disc jockey curate the music and play it so you could tune in whenever made music as a whole more accessible. I'm a huge proponent of promoting live music and practicing the arts because of how engaging they are. Beyond the music itself, it offers a gathering place.
@@pamspray5254 that’s why I’m not fully with this “convenience is faulty” mentality. The argument in itself has faults. Live music from professionals or singing to yourself will be the most intimate way of experiencing something. Everything else that came after is due to convenience.
At a recent wedding, I attended, the bride’s cousin sketched pages in a small commemorative book at various key moments, and applied watercolors. What a terrific, personal, tangible gift.
“Content” is a word that makes my spine shiver more and more. I’m not innocent of consumerism, but I try to be mindful of it. The joy of vinyl, for me, is the packaging. Some albums are just so creative in their liner notes and art, and that’s something that just can’t be replicated on a screen. There’s a joy to looking at all of the details in a physical copy.
I've thought many a time about making a video about why I dislike the word "Content" so much lol, but I think I covered my thoughts fairly well on it in that segment hahaha
This may also be why knitting, crochet and creative mending have made such a strong comeback. There is so much satisfaction in physically creating something, a plus if it is practical or insanely cute.
I miss analog. Physical ways to start a thing. I miss clicky play buttons on media players. I miss the act of doing things. I miss the inconvenience of things.
i recommend you go pick up a used cassette deck on offerup and go see how many awesome tapes are being made. lots of clanky asmr will occur in the handling of cassette tapes :D
Totally agree, the clicky buttons on 1980s and 1990s devices were perfect. As were the soft open mechanisms on media devices, and auto reverse etc. I hate touchscreen controls on devices, I don’t want a touchscreen on my microwave, oven, fridge …. and most importantly not in a car. I really don’t want to operate my car heating system for example, by selecting menu options on a dashboard touchscreen, I want buttons. The lack of buttons is not for our convenience though, it’s cheaper for the auto manufacturers. I don’t understand how it’s even legal for cars to have touchscreens, there’s a reason why using mobile phone screens is banned.
@@michaell8835 that also creates a whole lot of safety concerns when it comes to cars. with physical buttons you dont need to look at the controls to your a/c. you can feel them, have their place rememberd and operate it while still looking at the road. with a touchscreen you constantly need to look at said screen, especially when the controls are hidden in 3 submenus, thus you not looking at the road and being aware
Another convenience that you didn't touch on in this is food delivery apps. You lose the ritual of going out to eat, seeing people, the anticipation at the table as you wait for your food to arrive... Even when ordering delivery, digging through our drawer full of takeaway menus and calling up the same person who was always working on a Friday night
Yeah that's another big one for sure! I think I didn't touch on that cuz I stopped using those after covid for that exact reason haha, I went right back to actually visiting in person lol, so its not one that hits me personally quite as hard so I didn't think about it!
@@MecklesFrog Same with us, that's why I thought of it! We only used them a handful of times during COVID, because we realised that without the actual going out to the restaurant, we didn't actually enjoy restaurant food that much. We called it the 'DoorDash taste', of food that's been sat steaming in a bag
I don't use delivery services, but I've never been big on going out to eat either. It's the walk to the grocery store that's been a ritual for me, and often the only reason I'll ever get outside some days. I'm lucky I have the privilege of living close enough to a store to make the journey on foot whenever I need. Paying someone else to do that for me would remove a perfectly good walk from my schedule.
I don't like America's usual kind of restaurant experience, but going out for Pho or such where you just pay and sit down is nicer to me then having to wait to order, wait to pay afterwards, etc. Kind of like a much more wholesome healthy fast food, but no drive-thru.@@Max.Paprika
IMO, These conviniences are an issue because they intuitively guide us towards mindless consumerism while deep frying our dopamine receptors. Losing the rituals around an activity like listening the records or going to movie rental place removes the hedonistic part of music listening or watching a movie and obviously takes away from the immersion, through no fault of our own. I find that creating a ritual around these activities with all their conviniences helps A LOT. So maybe the blame also falls on us as consumers that we started passively engaging with slow paced hedonistic activities. P.S. I love your videos man, keep up the great work.
Oh I hard agree, I make a ritual out of listening to music in the kitchen by dancing with my dog (I dance while we play tug of war lol) when things are just sorta stewing on the stove, and I find that this silly little thing makes me engage with and enjoy the music much more actively.
I love the idea of creating a ritual!! Yes, I could microwave water for my tea, but maybe it's kinda fun to do it with a kettle! I could make my grocery lists on my phone, but maybe it's nice to actually cross off an item on my list while at the store. It might be faster to drive to the park, but it's well within walking distance so might as well! Could I have any book online? Yes, but it's nice to go to the library and get a physical copy! I'm gonna start practicing more rituals!!!
I find no evidence for any frying of dopamine receptors. Seems to be a popular myth perpetuated by a fringe crowd that believes in other nonsense like dopamine detoxing. If someone enjoys the ritual of playing vinyl then their reward centres are being triggered when they think about putting one on and during the ritual itself. Neither is there anything particularly slow about pulling out an LP and putting it on. Probably takes 30 seconds.
“The process of doing something is oftentimes more calming and pleasurable than the end result” ~me, who dislikes tea, after completing a tea ceremony.
I call it the death of the browsing economy. Browsing a video store, book store or record store was a journey of discovery. You were exposed to things you maybe wouldn't have seen otherwise. You could try something new out, maybe it's terrible but maybe it's something you really like so you want to see more. Now everything is fed to us based on what the algorithm wants to show us. There is no discovery anymore and god help you if you want to try to find something outside your feed (try to do this the next time you're on Netflix). We're not discovering anymore, we're just consuming what's being served up to us.
That's a good way to put it! I think that's part of why I love going to places like goodwill and thrift stores, it harkens back to the sense of discovery.
Spotify is really bad for this, even my own playlists have stuff they suggested added to them, and it's always the same artists and songs (presumably based on some sort of deal in the background).
As a 35-year-old....man, what a superb but devastating video essay. Really collected so many of my thoughts into one video in the most condensed, poignant, sad way. A lot of funny little nuggets thrown in with the edits but mostly in a "too true" kind of humor that matches the video theme. Coming at this a month late and talking into the void, my only addition is that, oddly, if you want to still experience these physical interactions, they're becoming more and more of a luxury. You might be able to find an arcade or a music store, but the cost associated with engaging is, or seems to be, higher than ever. The one arcade here would cost a week's worth of food for me, Vinyl stores have to have their prices bumped up to keep the lights on, and the equipment cost is a barrier to entry as well. Going out for a coffee or lunch feels like a formal meeting rather than a spontaneous hangout (and again, costs so much). And because everyone is somehow always so busy (in spite of so much convenience), getting people together in person is becoming a Herculean effort. To that last point, which I guess is my main sticking point....is that with all our convenience and quality of life, a lot of us are somehow relatively poorer and have less free time. Have new responsibilities and hobbies taken the place of that old boredom? Or are we simply acclimated to isolation already? I'm a massive introvert, but even I recognize that sometimes, being forced to interact with others can be a good thing. And in spite of enjoying the ability to practically not leave the house for weeks on end, I've realized the last 6 years have flown by with not much actual human experience to show for it. So I'm both guilty and despising of how life is now. But I feel that it takes a concerted effort from an entire community to change the status quo.
I feel this a lot. It happens with shopping too. My dad frequently asks why I went out to buy some things when I could just order online, and it ticks me off. I thought it was mostly because we live in a desert climate, our house doesn't have AC, and the store does, why *wouldn't* I, but the isolation of convenience is absolutely also a factor.
I love going out to shop physically. Being around people, the sounds of the mall, being able to actually hold something in my hands to decide if I want to buy it. also the AC is always nice lmao
i also rarely order anything online even when i don't have access to a lot where i live. i travel around and out of the country pretty frequently and just hope i come across what i was looking for in a bigger city. i also feel like this delays gratufication and decreses the amount of impulsive spending when i actually have to wait to buy the thing i want
@@Yipper64 My thoughts exactly. I usually only order things online if I can't find it locally. Funnily enough, I find it more convenient to drive to the store and physically buy something than order it online. Why would I want to wait 3 days to get what I want and pay for shipping when I can drive 15 minutes to the store and have it today?
A comment I read which changed my view on a lot of things was that in the modern age we may be critically understimulated. We think of screens as over stimulating (and in some ways they can be) But a screen is a flat surface of minimal texture that we tap again and again. It’s always the same. Meanwhile if we grab onto twigs and leaves or mud, tools, mash our hands into bananas to make banana bread, etc etc This all is a lot more stimulating for the sense of touch. The colors that print or a screen can display if I remember right are not the full range of colors we can see. Going outside is going to show a vast array of colors that can only be mimicked via relative color on screens. Things are always moving outside and unpredictably. Outside of our control. Sounds which we don’t choose are a constant too. It all does a lot for the mind even before incorporating people. When you deal in physical media it requires you to move at least a little, touch and interact things just a little. When there were places to go for these things rather than online shopping, it would draw you out to be around others too. Even if only a little bit. And hey while you’re out maybe you should stop by the grocery or get something to eat- All these things snowball together. I think this is just a small part of the larger problem of society isolating from each other. But it’s all the small parts that are linked together. Once one of these begins to corrode, all of it feels the impact. I’ve been shut in for awhile now, and here is what I have learned: It is easy to disconnect, but the longer you disconnect, the harder connecting again becomes. Disconnecting is a trap. Being around people and things outside your control keeps your mind much more stable. Once I was able to work remotely is when the misophonia began. I think things like social anxiety might be aided if we had to be out in the world more, but something like that has a lot of contributing factors, so I don’t want to say it is the only reason those rates are high now, but I do believe it contributes. The longer you’re away from people, the harder it is to draw on socializing skills (or to have opportunity to develop them), the scarier and more embarrassing it is to interact with others. Another cycle. I’m glad physical is making a return, I hope we begin to reclaim community in general as well. It may take new forms than what the past looked like, but the isolation is bringing such harm to everyone. Idk if I will ever be able to join it, but I want that for all the suffering and lonely people out there now. I am just happy to be able to go out and make the conscious choice now to pick up leaves and mess with them, to stop looking down when I walk and try and really see everything. It’s a start, y’know?
Okay, Boomer. (As someone who still a kid, I have fallen in love with physical media. I buy vinyl records, I look at my old DVDs with love, I want to buy a walkman. And, yeah, part of is could be me wanting to be pretentious, but its also just the love and want for media that I collect. You're so based, man 😭)
Sony's Walkman line is still around, and the new ones are MP3 players. I love mine because there are no ads, subscription fees, or microphones recording my conversations to target ads at me.
This video had me crying into my lunch today. Thank you. I have spent my entire adult life (I’m in my 30’s) digging my heels into the ground to cling to as much physicality and intention in my consumption of art as I can, and this video made me feel less alone in my reasons for that. It’s all beautifully put. Just…thank you.
To me it feels much, much harder to simply **absorb** without physically interacting. Art, music, crafts of all sorts. We can watch videos on it all day but we'll never have a single ounce of experience without being able to do it.
I think a lot of people feel lonely and detached from the world around them, because the emphasis on speed and convenience in EVERY SINGLE component of people's lives has conditioned people to not absorb the world around them. To not take in and appreciate every idiosyncrasy, every small detail, every weird person in their community around them. I find many people are baffled as to why I choose to buy something in person, or go to the library to get books, tv, movies, etc, or why I choose to take the metro on most of my trips. And the reason is because when I do those things I get absorb the world around me. I get to take in details, ask questions about why things are the way they are, and even create stories from even mundane actions. When I buy something in person there is a story of me taking in my surroundings. Noticing a sign some other person decided to put up that guided me in there, the browsing of the inventory, taking in the careful design and layout of the store, interacting with other customers, talking to the cashier. There's a story there, unlike online shopping where it's just clicking buttons. Additionally taking the metro I find a lot more emotionally fulfilling than driving because I get a story, I get to be with the other people on the train, sometimes with weird but ultimately interesting people, and not having to drive the train or the bus allows me to dedicate other time to doing anything else. Perhaps I want to talk with the other people on the train and get their life story, or just overhear a weird conversation, or watch something happen, or possibly read a book, or even just observe the surroundings of the train or the sights of the city. As opposed to driving, where I often lack such aesthetic bliss and ability to just appreciate and experience the small mundane things around me. I think people are really lacking in the ability to just live in the world. Not to fear it, not to work in it, not to optimize it, but to just live, to slow down, enjoy and appreciate every little weird detail of life.
please add paragraph breaks lol. i do agree though. Everyone's so caught up in being fast and getting shit done that they can't take 5 seconds to do anything else or even pay attention (hell, i do the same thing). public transport is non-existent in my state though (i think that's true for most of the US lol), but by god do i wish we had it. I'm terrified of driving and don't wanna deal with that shit, but i'm forced to either do that or go bankrupt with constant [insert whatever version of Uber is relevant rn] fees - and if you can't drive, you can't go *anywhere.*
That’s how I lived in Singapore. But now I am back in the uk and ten miles from anywhere like that. Country living was always a bit lonely but at least now we can participate more.
15:00 "this isn't meant to be an 'I'm 100% correct and anyone who disagrees is a fool' type of video." Ah, but you see. You *are* 100% correct. The Blockbusters of the world were third and fourth places, they were much needed human interaction.
You put this so well into words. The isolation of convenience. It isn't just the loss of the media, but the loss of the community around it. Which I think, in many ways, is more than half the value. So many books, movies, games I'd never have interacted with if it weren't for that community. It didn't matter so much to me if I even liked it, because I liked the conversation and the time I spent with people while participating in it so much more.
Thank you! That's the part I think about the most when it comes to these things, is how many little interactions we had with others that have gone away because of smart technology.
@@aroseydragon2873 no because inevitably things you love tend to wear out because you use them a lot. I've definitely bought certain CD's and records multiple times.
About three weeks ago I bought an iPod and a vertical-loading Sony CD player. My favorite thing so far about listening to music this way, after eight years on streaming, is the silence you hear when the album is done playing. You don’t get a smart shuffle recommendation, you don’t get the record restarting automatically, or another song from the artist’s back catalogue; you get silence. You get to think about what you just heard. It blew my mind and I couldn’t believe something as small as silence could be so profound to me, but it was. I haven’t been this intentional about my music listening in a very long time (probably since my iPod nano days in 2008 or so). Great video, never seen one of yours before but you got a new sub :) keep it up!
That is REAL tbh. I noticed that with vinyls, that once the album was over I had a chance to stop and just think about what I heard without it jumping right into a new song, it really allowed the album to have its own identity, it allowed me to think about it as it's own piece rather than just a constant stream of music. I've actually started pausing streaming after an album ends just so I can stop and think about it lol
i havent really dabbled in a lot of physical media in recent years but even i appreciate this as well because i also always pause after listening to an album so i can think about it, youtube videos too because if you put them in a playlist they just constantly play so i have to try my hardest to pause before the next video starts and right when the one im watching ends
Are you talking about the Sony Dream Machine ICF-CD3iP that f4mi talked about in a video? I have it too and it goes great with my iPods and physical CD collection
I had never thought about this before, but you're so right. The silence afterward gives you an opportunity to digest. With my vinyl records, I do go and get the needle off the record as soon as I can (apparently if the stylus bumps against the center label too much, it can damage the stylus), but I do appreciate the low hum you get at the end.
You nailed it when you said "countless forms of ENTERTAINMENT" - part and parcel to this whole issue is the passive nature of most entertainment, and our technology and society working to make it more passive. This also ties in with how the entertainment out there is more and more becoming corporate-driven slop. The prevailing philosophy that it shouldn't have effort. and we shouldn't interact with it, only consume. Create? Interact? No. Produce and consume. And then move on to the next consumption.
I feel like this extends to books and literature too. I love my little library of physical books that I've read because when I look at the shelf, I can feel proud in my accomplishment of having actually turned the page from beginning to end. It's a satisfying feeling looking at the spines of each book, reminescing as I see the titles and remembering brief snippets of the individual stories. If I had an E-reader/kindle, that entire process would be lost and all I'd have is this black tablet that if it were to suddenly die, I'd have to buy a new one. Worse yet, if the online catalogue of those books were to go away, I'd lose all traces of my reading history.
Yeah! Physicality is important because it becomes part of a space, of an environment. It allows something to exist in more than a ethereal sense, and allows each book or movie or whatever to have it's own identity as an object.
I agree with this mostly - yet I still own a kindle for those moments where I go traveling and have no space to bring like four books with me (I am quite a fast reader so when I go away for a week I have no issues getting thru like three books, and with a health disability, suitcase space is something I cannot extend haha) But nothing will ever replace the physical book for me.
I prefer listening to books (it helps me get through chores I would otherwise never get to), but I love seeing a book and being reminded of my favorite scene. I navigate this by borrowing the ebook from my library and then buying a hard copy if I liked it enough. Best of both worlds, I think.
I can't drive so I can't even really go anywhere if I want to, and I feel like the whole overreliance on cars is another reason why people just stay at home? idk it's why I never leave
I do think, at least in the US, lack of easily accessible public transport and so much space being taken up by parking lots does lead to less room/opportunities for unique experiences tbh
@@MecklesFrog There is plenty of Public Transportation throughout the US, however the US Size alone makes it impossible to cover it entirely with a generic "Public Transportaion" solution. It works fine in Cities, and in a lighter sense Suburban and semi Rural areas, but once you venture far enough away from a big city and its surrounding sub towns, there is no reason to have a dedicated line going to only one area. This is where Rideshare/Cabs filled the gaps if you are unable to just drive yourself. Having your own car outside of a city, or even within one, gives you the Freedom to go wherever you want, whenever you want and unlike Europe, the US does not have a problem of space for things. The main problem overall which this video somewhat covers, is the whole "Instant Gratification" did destroy the whole Retail and in person experience for Shopping, social activities, etc. since everything like music, movies, food, work, etc. can all be brought right into your home, keeping you from ever needing to leave your home. The effort of removing these services from your life, is the only way to sort of step back and see that, there is still a lot of world and life out there, but you have to unfocus from the Tech around you, and literally go out and "touch some grass" which while usually said in a joking way, isn't the worst advice to give your mind a break and reset to see what really is worth spending your time on and experiences to engage in.
You're right! The US has a big problem with sprawling suburban neighbourhoods that isolate the people that live there. Because everything is so far away, you kinda have to do all these things from home. That's just one issue among other things, but there's a whole community around the concept of urban planning. I think your comment shows you have the mindset for it, so if you don't mind, may I recommend a few RUclips channels? - Strong Towns is an organisation that aims to improve US towns. - City Beautiful is an informative channel focusing on infrastructure and city planning. - Yet Another Urbanist likes to talk about how a lot of cities are designed around car use and how it affects us. Great channels, and if you don't mind my totally unwarranted recommendations, I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do. :)
@@declanashmore Adam Something, while not specifically being about that, is in that constellation of topics, and is very interesting and entertaining too
@@franminanicollier9431 There are a few reasons I didn't mention him. (1) I wanted to stick specifically to urbanism, (2) he's a lot more negative and condescending and (3) he's wrong pretty regularly. I've also not recommended NotJustBikes because it's mostly "America Bad, Holland Good". If people start with the three channels I recommended above, they'll get well-researched channels that are easy watches, and they'll find channels like Adam Something and Not Just Bikes through the algorithm very quickly. My goal is to start people of with the _good_ content.
i used to collect so many dvd’s when i was younger, the last few months i’ve started going back into physical media and getting (or upgrading my favourites) to blu ray or 4k discs!
You mentioned cars as an inevitable convenience. Speaking as someone who rides a horse, drives a car, and regularly commutes to work via e-bike, I can say with complete authority that the "convenience" of driving is easily the most soul-sucking chore of all three. Yes, I get there faster. But on a bike (and on a horse), you're extremely "present" when you're doing it. You're in nature, you feel the weather, you're looking at the birds, hearing the trickle of the stream or the rush of the wind. You're not on your phone, tapped out, bored out of your mind and yelling at the people around you. You're just in it. I think convenience culture started with cars. Sure, they go faster... but then everyone moved further away. We built roads to take us further away, and now those roads are clogged. So have we really made anything more convenient? It still takes you 30 minutes to get anywhere, but instead of walking down a lively street, you're in a car stuck in suburban hell. There are definitely conveniences we all appreciate and would never give up, like the dishwasher and the sewing machine. But a lot of convenience devices can and will ruin the planet (like cars have) and our emotional/creative selves.
Yeah someone else brought up this point, and I def think cars was a bad example to use there, because I agree, car culture is a prime example of convenience culture taking away things that are meaningful experiences, and like you said possibly one of the earliest! The line just sounded good so I kept it in and didn't think on it too much lol, something to keep in mind for future works tho! thanks so much for watching!
The city I live in has streetcars (trolleys). People don’t like them because they’re slow but I have a deep appreciation for them because yes they’re slow but they go down the busiest streets so I love to sit in the nice sunny window and watch all the shops and people go by. Because it’s slow and outdoors it lets us see every interaction happening on the street: the person buying flowers, the mom walking a kid to school, the two friends meeting up on the street, people sitting outside cafes. They are slower, but at least they aren’t underground and ugly. I love them so much they’re my favorite way to get around and I will plan extra time to get somewhere just to ride them.
I love going for walks. There is so much you don't see from a car. When did this shop open? Or oh no I liked that shop and they are gone. Slowly watch a tree push the sidewalk out of the way. Or notice that a mansion is slowly falling apart. All things you wouldn't see just rushing by. Or coming across all of your neighborhood animals. On foot you can sneak up on them. You actually get to observe in a way we have erased from our lives.
This is such a Good Point! Sure, I get it, if only to transport things like groceries cars are super convenient, or for accessibility reasons for older people or with kids, pets or handicaps or something. But you’re completely right, from the experience in and on itself nothing compares to riding a bike or a horse, or even a motorcycle. It is an experience in itself, not just transportation from A to B
I think part of it also comes down to how you interact with said convince too. What rituals you apply to it. In regards to the car, this is where I would find I disagree. The car I feel can in this instance equate to CD vs turn table. Sure, you could just drive the car just so you can get from point a to point b, just as you can just put a disk in to have some music playing while you get some other unrelated task done. But with both, and like the turn table and walking examples, we can still take the time to just enjoy the unique experiences they provide. unlike the instant streaming of media, there is still room for those experiences. With those walks, do you ever go a different path just to see what's down it. What about hikes, see the trees, listen to the birds. For driving, you can go find some back road, a forest to drive through, listen to the hum or roar of the engine as you wind through the roads. The big drain for driving (for me at least) is the traffic, the constant stop and go and stop again. But that is the convenient path, go the long way and you may find the time gets filled with a ritual you were not anticipating. It's about the journey. And with most media now days, there is no journey left to take. No longer road. No new trail to hike. Just point a and b.
A big factor would be circumstance. The narrator and I are probably similar in age, growing up with these changes. But a big factor was if you could afford them. I didn't get internet in my home until 2005. If I wanted to browse, it involved a half hour bus trip to the library and paying by the hour once a week, if I had the money. Movies were the same, it was an event and an expensive evening out in the bad part of town. I've been to a cinema 6 times in my life and I can remember what I saw in order. Jurassic Park, Aladdin, Die Another Day, Evolution, Atonement and Star Trek. Any DVD's came from second hand stores at 50p each. I've got a good collection but mostly influenced by grandparents tastes and what we had on VHS. Anything outside of that was hit and miss. Love it or hate it, it sat on the shelf. That has carried on with streaming, I regarded it as too pricey and never bothered. I'm still thankful that something has to grab my attention and grab it hard to facilitate buying a DVD.
Imagine if sports went digital. Just based on the premise that it's apparently more convenient. And athletes just play at their AI managed home gyms in VR. No stadiums, no crowds, no press conferences, no locker room, no hot dogs, no halftime live performances. And all of this is considered a strictly BETTER thing because companies don't have to pay for these supposedly obsolete and unecessary expenses.
It does kinda feel like that lol, granted, thankfully live shows are still around, buuuuuut if you wanna see any big artist it's gonna cost you an arm and a leg lol
Motorsports is crawling into this right now, ai and tech bros trying to make races out of robots, while right now is just crashes and malfunction, it's scary that could be achieved in the future
nah man, you're totally right. the "convenience" of everything is a heavy contributor to the Loneliness epidemic. almost *everything* used to be at least a little bit social. now, almost *nothing* is.
Social interractions are now optional. Tech to trained act as human suplement And humans , trained to act as tech (shops and work, seemingly required social interraction)
As someone who's just a teenager and never really got to experience the era of having to go to a shop and buy stuff; I REALLY love collecting vinyl records. There's just something about being able to physically hold my favourite album, having to pull it out of the cover, and throw it on a record player. MAN this stuff is cool. Great video btw :)
tbh it makes me really sad that things like local malls (a lot of the BIG touristy ones are still around) began to close down, I kind of saw it coming even as a young adult with online shopping becoming so huge, but I didn't quite grasp the actual scale of the cultural shift and the affect it would have on a tangible, human level.
Almost everything around us is made to be resilient, you can drop your mobile phone and it will be ok. Vinyl records are an exception. They should be handled very carefully by their edges. Not thrown onto anything. Enjoy and have fun.
I realized the importance of "rituals" with these inconvienient ways of enjoying things, when I asked a friend of mine why he'd listen to music on vinyl when he knows they degrade each time he listens to them and the quality will not match a FLAC file on his phone. He said "yes, that is precisely why everytime I listen to my favourite records, I get a nice scotch, a joint, and fully enjoy the experience, I make it special every time". I do now the same with films, I got most of my favourite films on Blu Ray.
i went to a bazar the other day. a friend was volunteering as staff, so me and 3 other friends went to chat with her. there was a stand that sold second-hand cds and vynils, and they had a (rather beat up) discman on sale. i took a cd i had never heard before and the discman home. it's now the most beautiful album i've ever listened to.
There was an album I used to listen to to help myself sleep, and it was one that I just randomly grabbed at a second hand cd shop cause the album art looked cool. It was this very native American inspired album of soft nature sounds and panflutes and drums and man, I gotta find that again.
my blockbuster died a long time ago and i missed it. Then Spotlight came to town but that died like half a year ago and now i cant have movie nights with my dad.
Being born in 2001. I caught the tail end of this “inconvenient” era. Every time I look back on it I think, “what happened? Where did this go?” This video was the answer to my questions. The modern life of convenience has made my life mundane and simple, even though Im in a bad financial situation. It’s almost dystopian. Living paycheck to paycheck but I own every movie in the world. Budgeting groceries but I dont have to buy cds for my car. Just pop on bluetooth and go. This modern era really is strange.
@@noaharkadedelgado wouldnt that be ownership vs renting, not vs digital? Like I have some of my favorite movies on a hard drive and in some personal cloud server, not in netflix p.e.? Or is a hard drive not digital?
@@Pandor18personal example: I've purchased Minecraft Pocket Edition in 2017. All was fine until Microsoft decided that they don't like my country now and ever since then I can't download it on my new phone nor update it on my old phone that has it installed. They remotely stole my product that I PAID FOR for reasons I can't do nothing about (aside from moving to another country which is just BS)
This video was beautifully made! Physical and digital media used to go hand in hand, but now it feels like we’ve traded real genuine connections for “convenience”. Why go out and interact when you can experience it all from your bed? Society’s so focused on making things easy that we’ve lost the beauty of inconvenience. It makes me think about and wonder if us as a society has lost a sense of appreciation for the art and effort behind what we watch and listen to
The more effort you put into a task the more satisfying the feeling of completing the task and recieving the reward is. Simple as. The concept is called Delayed Gratification, and it's something people with neurodiverse brains really struggle with naturally. Because so much of the modern world has been designed for immediate gratification, the experiences in which delayed gratification naturally arise become more prominent in memory and in effect.
what I'm talking about here isn't quiiiiiiiiiite delayed gratification, but it's very closely related I think! Because while these rituals def have some of that, there's also the cultural, social angle that I think the concept of DG doesn't quite touch on.
"Simple as." Hard disagree. When I'm calling my doctor because my prescription didn't come through, then I'm calling my insurance because they're denying my need for it, then I'm calling my doctor to make a new appt because the insurance says I have to even though I was just there a few days ago . . . There's no reward there. No satisfaction. It's all stress and "This should be so much easier than it is." Sometimes, yes, overcoming a challenge is rewarding. But let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
@@darvinherdegen yeah lol, there are some things where the inconvenience is only that: Inconvenient, and doesn't really have any value to us as individuals. Things that bring us no pleasure, no reward, and only serve to make our lives harder (and often make corporations a little bit richer)
It's really not true though. If I have to go through a lot of effort and spend a lot of money on getting music, then when I finally listen to that music, honestly I feel underwhelmed and like I wasted my time and money. Because now my expectations are so high from all the effort I've had to put into the task of getting the music that when I listen to it, it'll never live up to those expectations. "The harder you work for something, the more fulfilling it is" is not always true, especially with something as trivial as listening to a song.
OK, I'm a real Boomer. I'm 75. It always tells me something about a person when they wonder about what was and how it affects people. You have experienced the changes in your lifetime, but don't realize the changes previous generations have experienced. When I was a kid, the most fun was pick-up baseball and football games with friends and random kids you met while playing. Riding your bike was the way you got to the places across town without the aid (or knowledge) of your parents. What were the daily pleasures of my parents? What are the kids growing up today unaware of that their parents experienced. Every generation of kids are happy with the world they grow up in. Every generation of parents laments that their kids don't understand how great their own childhood was. Technology and generations are changing much quicker now. Kids, today, are growing up in a world much different than even ten years ago. They will probably think those older kids are totally out of it.
It's kind of crazy that with how rapidly everything else is changing, with trends, city development, the economy, and ESPECIALLY technology. I sort of agree with you, to an extent. While I think those things change a lot, I feel that children and parents hardly have. Why? Because I've heard tons of people in every single generation talk about those same childhood experiences you described, like about playing outside with other kids or riding your bikes without your parents knowing. Gen x, millennials, gen z, etc. They all say the same thing. Kids don't change, cause their natural instinct to play with other kids, explore, or do things independently is there, for almost every kid, and I don't think parents have either, since most people do what's familiar to them and take after their parents' parenting tactics. It's kind of fascinating how human nature barely changes despite how much can change around them. I even see children today, with their tablets, iPhones, and all, still go out and hang out in the neighborhood or play in the yard with other children. Most kids don't actually want to sit in front of a screen all day. Even introverted or shy kids have a limit and want SOME interaction with peers or freedom. There are exceptions, like or kids with unfortunate circumstances, but I'm sure that's been in every generation. From what I've seen, they're typically the kids who either have abusive and overly strict parents who don't let their kids have a proper childhood, so they use technology to escape and as their only option of entertainment, or they live in an environment that isn't safe for them to go out and act like a normal kid. Or their parents hooked them on an internet addiction from a very young age to keep them out of their child's hair. Then again, narcissistic parents, bad neighborhoods, or neglectful parenting have always existed. I think each generation has more in common with each other than we think, maybe not with the technology, state of the economy, fashion, music, movies, civil rights, etc., but at our core, our experiences are not as unique, because people still have the same desires and emotional needs. That's a beautiful thing that I don't think technology will ever take away.
The company you bought your physical media from can't suddenly decide you no longer own it and suspend your license, which is another bonus! Half of my Steam games don't work anymore, but no one is taking my records from me!
Yep.You haven't experienced inconvenience until the show your kid has been watching non-stop on streaming is suddenly no longer available, and no where to be found. That was when I became obsessed with dvds.
very well put about the generative image crap, i can only believe people who think ai slop is a replacement for art have only ever treated the medium as content to be consumed, rather than a form of communication between artist and viewer, just no introspection on it whatsoever outside of a surface level. it sucks how tech seems to be moving towards being further commodified and asocial but i guess in an ideal world we manage to reach some kind of medium between the freedom of modern tech without sacrificing so much of the social aspect. great vid! :]
Thank you! And yeah, I think the commodification of interaction via social media led into the commodification of things like art. When we started viewing everything as "posts" or "content", rather than "works of art", it really stripped them of a sense of importance that I think pushed people to view them more intimately and critically.
As a photographer, the invasion of AI based photo editing gets me feeling unnerved. It's easier than ever to replace a boring sky with a sunset in a few clicks, or add a plane or delete all the people in the scene. I like photography as it's a glimpse of a time and place, and you can create wonder by showing angles and times and views that others rarely see. It's all too easy to fake it now. You might as well just generate birds in flight instead of finding them.
I feel like this is the best analysis of "its not always about the destination, but the journey". Makes me wonder about what key moments the future generations will grow up with, like even for me a fond memory was having my mate over playing Xbox 360 and my controller went flat, so we rode our bikes down to my nans for AA batteries because there were none at home and then ride back: purely so we can play more Xbox together. And it gets even crazier when you realise that the generations before me have similar stories: climbing trees, riding bikes and meeting up at the milk bar, going to the arcade, etc etc. And as they grew up they probably had the same thoughts about what the journey will look like for the coming generations? I feel like this sort of stuff is stuff that new kids need, whereas in this modern world of instant gratification and convivence these kids are missing out on having journeys and I feel that this desire for unlimited convivence is the root behind the ongoing loneliness epidemic- social media, lack of split screen gaming, an overall less need to leave the home. It can't be healthy.
Basically, we don't actually need everything at our fingertips. There are some incredible aspects of AI but the way it immediately wormed its way into contributing to the way we overwhelmingly consume media is terrifying
Yeah AI has some absolutely fantastic implementations, but the replacement of creation, of physical interactions, things that make being human well, cool, isn't a very good use of it lol
@@ElysiumGD Didn't they make a robot put away boxes for so long that it just collapsed? I don't think even robots are going to survive the way people are treated in labour tasks
this is one of the biggest reasons i make it a point to visit the movie theater and library as often as i can. we’ve lost the intimacy and passion for art. we’ve lost collective social experiences that create community and i think that contributes to the disconnect felt by so many people.
I really miss physical media, it's why I'm collecting for the PS2 and PS1. Physical Media also meant you actually OWNED what you bought. It's more important now than ever.
As a 45 year old, I would like to offer my personal confirmation of the joy and reward of the little rituals around going to the video store (a ritualistic space must be physically separate from the mundane, requiring some form of time and effort to go there) choosing a movie (making a personal act in said ritualistic space connects you to that space) and then returning Home with the Ritual Object that everyone gathers around the 21st century alter of media, the TV (each in their usual seat) to have a communal experience by watching a story unfold. We all go on that emotional journey together, and then we have that experience that newly refreshes our social bond, because we all agree it was awesome when John McLean jumps off the building, or when Ripley walks out in the Power Loader suit. Or when Cap picks up Mjolnir. The stories we tell have always connected us. But as Marshall McLuhan said: the Medium is the Message; by reducing the experience of TV, movies, music, books, etc to "stuff you do on your phone" it flattens all those experiences. Thank you for attending my tedtalk 😊
I'm right there with you on this. It's not about the old stuff being better or worse - it's just acknowledging what was lost in the change. The important thing isn't what's on the medium, it's what's happening in your head. When you're putting a record on, you're making a deliberate effort that you simply aren't when you click play on a file. It sets the stage in a way that influences how you relate to the music that follows. When you go to the cinema, you engage with the film in a different way than when you watch it at home. Sure, your attention probably wanders less - unless you're a terrible patron you won't be glancing at your phone - but beyond that, sitting in a large dark room full of strangers is a fundamentally different experience (the film critic Mark Kermode compared it to going to church). When you take a picture on photographic film, yes there's a satisfying tactility to the mechanism - it feels great to turn the film advance lever - and yes there's something beautiful to the images the film chemistry produces, but a huge thing I didn't anticipate was how it changes how you think about the act of taking pictures, and how I engage with them afterwards. Digital photography offers the convenience of essentially unlimited retries at no cost, so of course it makes sense to make a load of variations to give a better chance of getting it right. You can't do this when you only have so many frames available, so you have to slow down and be more deliberate. You can't immediately check your work; you won't see the result until after you've had the film processed, which could be days or weeks later. Sometimes this means you'll miss the shot, or screw up without realizing, but I think that forced deliberateness can be a very valuable exercise. I also find that I spend more time assessing and enjoying those images, in part because more effort went into each of them, and in part because of the delay: they're separated from my memory of what I was trying to achieve, so I can appreciate them on their own merits, and there's fewer of them, so it's not a daunting task to take the time to go through them. So many of my digital photographs probably only get looked at once more after I take them, if that. At its worst, convenience breeds disposability. That isn't to say we should do away with convenience (not by any means - I'd hate it!); just to remember that the extra effort of the less convenient option sometimes has its benefits.
That's a really solid point, about the disposability of artwork and media in the modern age. I've done a lot of casual digital photography over the years, but admittedly never dabbled in traditional photography. Perhaps I should pick up one of those polaroid ones that spits the image out right away haha, those have always seemed fun!
@@MecklesFrog I haven’t done much photography of any stripe for years now, and from what I hear the prices are creeping up on the analogue side of things, but I’d say it’s definitely worth a try if you’re into photography. The cheapest route in is to get something that was produced in huge quantities (but is also good). I got a fully working Canon AE-1 P with a few lenses on auction at eBay for about £50. That was about 10 years ago, so I expect prices will have risen somewhat, but you should still be able to find something that wouldn’t break the bank. If you’re a Nikon photographer, you get the benefit that they maintained lens compatibility from analogue to digital, so you don’t need to worry about building up a new collection. Though to be honest, almost all my analogue pictures have been taken with the nifty fifty that came with it - I treated that as part of the discipline. I would also describe myself as a “casual photographer”, btw. I enjoy it and am sometimes really pleased with the results, but I always feel like I’ve stumbled into catching a good image. I guess the rare exceptions to that are when I’ve bothered to take out the tripod and do some long exposure stuff. Somehow that feels more “proper”!
Actually if you were someone truly into photography in the days of film you carried a cache of rolls of film and you took lots of pictures, particularly because you had no idea which shot would be the one that was just right. Then after developing them maybe two or three out of 36 would be genuine keepers. It was really the casual photographers who took a small number of pictures, because they wouldn't carry a big supply of extra rolls. They of course were also not more deliberate than they are now. They just took fewer pictures.
@@loganmedia4401 I'm sure (even I would sometimes take a few rolls on an outing I thought would be particularly fruitful). Even so, I do think that hard cap is still something you have to have in mind. Even sports photographers and paparazzi would have to be mindful of how many seconds of continuous shooting they'd have before needing to change roll or camera. But yes, the modern analogue photography enthusiast is probably quite different than any kind of contemporary analogue photographer in many respects.
i adore this. for the past couple of years i've been trying to figure out why the evolution of our relationship to technology is such an emotional topic to me. you put it into words
Dude, this was so well said. As a 37 year old man I see my kids jump from game to game in the Nintendo Switch Online library and never really progress. I think that's the real issue. Without the inconveniences we stop progressing through an experience and move on to the next thing the moment we hit any uncomfortable bump along the way. This in turn teaches our brain that any inconvenience is worth bailing on any experience including jobs, and relationships. Maybe I'm thinking too deep about this.
17 year old here, and I completely agree. When everything you'd ever want or need is given to you immediately, it feels empty. No work was put in to get it, so there's nothing to celebrate when you get it besides just getting it.
I caught myself skipping over important information by reading through it too quickly in text. Not because I didn’t read it. But because I didn’t give myself time to think about it. Typefaces like Helvetica are very easy on the eyes and distinctive at a distance, they enable information to rapidly transfer through text to my brain. But they are so easy, that without taking a very real effort to slow down and actually take that knowledge in: Everything you read will feel empty.
My favorite cinema is heavily subsidized by the EU, but they show nook films, cultural events, films for children, and small indie productions. Stuff you won't find on Netflix or Prime. A ticket costs 12€ and popcorn 3€, that wouldn't be possible without funding. We would lose so much culture.
I'm only 27. I grew up with this stuff, but I'm not really nostalgic about it either. I have, however, been seeing these kinda of videos and realizing...life back then was better. Not because I didn't have responsibilities or something. I did. Not much has changed in that respect. Slowly going back to interacting with media the way I used to has led me to enjoy it more. I feel more connected to the art and even the world around me the more I...disconnect? Half of my life was spent interacting with my world in one way, and the other half in another. I prefer the prior version.
tbh my nostalgia for these things didn't start to really hit me until a few years ago. When, similarly, I started to move away from smart tech and actively searched for older, more involved ways to enjoy the world around me. Photography with a DSLR camera, collecting dvds and blu rays of the movies I enjoyed, retro consoles with physical games, most recently vinyls. Like you said, by disconnecting somewhat from social media and modern convenience, I started to feel more connected to the actual mediums I was creating/engaging with because I had to interact with them far more intimately.
I too feel more connected to my music through buying it in CD form of downloading it from certain websites and punching in the track and and album information myself. I get to learn the name of the album, I get to see who made the songs that I cherish so much, I get to look up and store the album cover on my PC; I enjoy consuming my music better through iTunes and iPods and downloading them myself.
So much goes into a vinyl, it makes you appreciate it different. You see the artists who hand drew something or the photographs taken out of context while making the album and the inspiration behind what the band wanted to convey to you. Your own interpretation is what makes it really special though. That comes natural.
I've been getting into CDs lately because of this (and because I do not have bluetooth or aux in my car). Something about having limited options makes me appreciate it more. Sometimes when I'm listening to music on spotify, I get bored of every choice there is because there's just so many which never feels good. Something about having a tangible product that plays music you love and being able to sort through different albums and pick them out by hand is so special
Yeah, when my husband and I were travelling and only had CDs, there was an odd charm to only having whatever was in the little CD booklet, and some of the albums we listened to over and over now hold a special place to me
And the human touch doesn't even necessarily NEED to be physical! Even like, editing these videos, I'm doing it "by hand" rather than having an AI do everything, and that, at least to me, makes a big difference lol
I agree with pretty much 99% of what you said. Just two things: 1) When I was about 11 I was gifted a CD copy of Sgt Pepper by The Beatles. I had never heard it before and was blown away by the music and art cover. I enjoyed listening to it in the car and in my CD player while looking the CD case as it has pictures and the lyrics it was a whole experience. FF to July 2020 T.S. released Folklore during the pandemic. You couldn’t go to the store to see it even if you wanted to. However I fell in love with it pretty much immediately. I thoroughly enjoy that album and is one of my favorites of all time. I never had a physical copy to look at but I enjoyed looking the cover album on my locked phone screen or when I drive w/ the car play. To this day I dont own it yet and I find it to have been just as meaningful to me as when I first listened to Pepper. Although, physical media will always be different experience, I believe it is possible to have wonderful & personal album experiences in the digital age. 2) The car is actually not a convenience actually quite the opposite. For thousands of yrs up until 100 yrs ago humans would walk pretty much everywhere. Now they’re pretty much the only way to get anywhere (at least in the US & Canada). They’re expensive to own and operate and you have to always be mindful of where to put it. They make it hard to get the places and experiences you talked about in the video since you can’t walk to those places. And often we have to sit in traffic just to get to them costing valuable time. America wasn’t built for the car it was bulldozed for it btw. Much like gen z/alpha aren’t aware of an era before physical media, society is unaware of a time before cars. Cars do have a place in society and have made it easier to get to places that are far away. However we should not be car dependent. We should have more choices and options which is the exact point of this video.
I miss going to Blockbuster, burning CDs and making my own mixtapes, rewinding cassettes with pencils, analogue radios in cars, physical mp3 and mp4, stuff like Gameboys or light screen based pocket games, etc. It was more stuff to mind and carry around but yeah, the interaction and dedicated part of each gadget is something I do miss a lot, even with all the convenience of having everything in one single device, I do miss those times. Tho I am indeed kinda aware that most people, myself included, wouldn't let these conveniences go to go back to those old days, having known what convenience like the one we have is I think a switch back to those times would be hard even for those who want to, I know it would be for me tho I ofc can't speak for everyone. So I am kinda torn on the subject, for one point I do agree and miss the more personal approach to these elements as well, mostly couch Co-op which is not so common nowadays but luckily you can still play stuff like the Switch with your irl friends and such, but on the other hand, I am also used to the convenience of having everything in one place and be more accessible and less tiem consuming to acquire. Good video tho mate!
Absolutely, once you have the more convenient option its not easy to go back to the old way of doing things! I use my smartphone all the time lmao, I just find myself thinking a lot about how many small, but imo important, everyday experiences fell to the wayside as a result of everything being consolidated into one device.
I'm the only person my age I know with a CD collection. Being raised poor and barely having internet access, while very irritating at the time, is something I'm really grateful for now. Watching others on their phones when they're meant to be happy with friends is always a reminder how I got lucky...
I bought the Pokemon turn table for myself for Christmas and it's wonderful. Listening to music becomes a special event instead of just being background noise. Not to mention, if you have good quality speakers, there is a substantial quality improvement with CDs, lossless files, and vinyl over streaming services. “When you want to hurry something, that means you no longer care about it and want to get on to other things. I just want to get at it slowly, but carefully and thoroughly, with the same attitude I remember was present just before I found that sheared pin. It was that attitude that found it, nothing else.” - Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
Damn that's a good quote lmao, I coulda used that in the video lol! But 100%, the whole ritual that turntables involve turns listening to music into an event itself, rather than just "a thing happening in the background". It grants it it's own importance by virtue of having to engage with it more intimately. Also I just googled it that pokemon turntable is sick as hell
video so good i had to save it to a public playlist and share it💯💯 but seriously i've been noticing the problem with this convenience for so long now. i'm 15, and i essentially grew up on the internet through my mom's unused laptop, which meant i got a little less of the said convenience and actually browsed around the web to the best of my capabilities. this made it so much more shocking to see my classmates and general peers being completely unable to use non-mobile devices, saying computers and laptops were "difficult" and "inconvenient" while to me they just felt like second memory much like my phone does. they also seem to switch around trends and styles and music at an unfathomable speed [and this is coming from someone who changes style completely at least twice a year] due to the constant social media microtrend loop. overall it's like theres nothing that truly sticks with them since they don't take time to consume things in a deeper level, and if they try they always give up because it's not the most convenient easy option. it's kinda depressing imo
the metaphor of the rose and the garden really stuck with me. as a person who loves romanticizing the mundane and studies literature, it resonates with me. thank you for putting my ever increasing agony with technology into perspective. the internet, for all the good it does, sucks the passion out of me now. my dad was the one who introduced me to the internet 17 years ago with a cheerful optimism. but the more i see it evolve, the less i feel like i can share that optimism to my kids or anyone else really. the internet was a fun mirror house which is now renovated into a corporate building. and i feel myself straying away from it with each passing moment.
Thank you! I was really proud of that part I won't lie haha, so I'm glad it stuck out to you! And yeah, I feel that. It's ironic, because without the algorithms and all that, this video wouldn't have reached people, but at the same time, it does feel like in general the corporate-ization of the internet has vastly sucked a lot of the soul out of what made it a special "place" to begin with. But thankfully that soul isn't quite entirely gone, not yet lmao! thank you so much for watching!
"The internet was a fun mirror house which is now renovated into a corporate building" I need that gif of the feathered pen writing fire cause you hit the nail right on the head in such a great way.
Incredibly well said, i really loved this video. Im 23 now, but almost every single day i miss my life before social media, phones, this new generation of RUclips that puts consumerism above all else. I miss family video so much. When it closed down a couple years back i cried in the parking lot. I miss combing through cds and ds games at Best Buy. Ugh.
I was never that big into Blockbusters, etc. but I DO feel this on a heavy level with card games. My family and I used to get together every now and then and play some card games, but ever since we learned of an app that lets you play online, we've been doing that instead. I feel so distant and isolated when I play on it instead of physically shuffling and dealing cards to my friends.
Oh yeah, I chose rental stores and discs and stuff cause thats where it hits me the hardest, but the switch from physical to digital affects tons and tons of things in a very similar way.
I miss those since highschool, tons of people used to play with me at "free hours"(when teachers were absent basically) when we were bored, and i loved to make jokes and talk about series and movies, or animals and colours, or simply school things, while we shuffled the deck, laughing together. I miss having meetings with close friends as well, they stopped going to local conventions bc of economy(things were getting oversaturated, too many cons to attend on a single sunday!! And there was nothing fun to do on them, organizers just wanted the money and didn't cared about making the event, well, fun!!), so i rapidly loss a place, time, and way to meet people and have a fun time with them, it's been years since i meet with someone one unrelated to work :(
i think while the internet connected and connects the whole world together and get people communicating literally worldwide, it makes us more and more lonley and isolated
I d say the internet , the web itself is not at fault , but the companies looming over it today. You are way more likely to form internet conections browsing chatrooms , then on facebook and stuff. My supplement are the small game lobbies in some games. They are part time chatrooms in the end. But i might see your point. Messging to friends is way more diferent than meeting up, but why bother meeting if you may text? And internet interractions rarely feel like talking. And with the phones no one ever talkes in busses or trains or stuff. Did i understand you correctly? I am *ferg* by the way , nice to meet you here, how are you doing right now?
I was a teenager/young adult in the Eighties and one thing I loved was frequenting repertory cinemas. I saw tons of classic movies, foreign films, and documentaries. I didn't need anyone "recommending" movies for me because I was willing to take a chance on a film I might dislike. (The cheap ticket price also meant that I wasn't taking too big of a risk.) Sadly, those theatres are gone, and along with them the experience of watching films with an audience of like-minded cinephiles.
I used to live in an area that had a theatre just down the road, and they would do $5 Tuesdays. So me, my husband and a few friends would get together every Tuesday and just go see whatever was new. Didn't matter what it was. Honestly we discovered some fantastic films, but we also have vivid memories of some of the stinkers because the experience of watching them together, that communal experience, is really what made those Tuesdays special.
You made a good point about cost. Going to the movies nowadays is like $20 for the ticket alone. To many people, the financial risk vs pleasure reward is too high.
@@jalapeno1119 Yeah, the financial risk is a barrier these days. Back then, a rep cinema ticket would cost around $2.50, so even if you were broke you could occasionally enjoy a night at the movies.
@@jalapeno1119 You're right about the financial risk. Back then, a rep cinema ticket cost around $2.50, so even if you were broke you could still enjoy a night at the movies.
I think life moves way too fast these days and people are losing the capacity for patience. We need to bring back old tech. We need to inconvenience ourselves in order to be human. It takes patience to love, to create, to think and feel and develop. This has been my biggest problem as an artist. Just getting sucked into instagram reels or whatever and not allowing myself the time to settle down and be bored and to create art. Too many companies are trying to outdo each other without thinking or caring if it’s good for any of us. And the fact that we don’t get a choice. We have to advance with all of the “progress.” Well, I’m keeping my TV without the apps. I’m keeping my DVDs and DVD player. I’m keeping all of my CDs so I can play them in my car. I’m going to keep collecting vinyls to play on my turntable at home. I need to
Dude, you managed to put a feeling I have all the time into words SO WELL. The endless drive towards convenience actually removes some of the things that make life wonderful. You didn't really touch on it but an aspect of inconvenience I find really important is, like, waiting. The major thing of so much advertising is like "with our new app you won't have to go to a place and wait in a queue for your thing!" But so much IMAGINATION is done in those moments. Just standing there, kinda bored, looking out the window, and you go oh, that tree is pretty. Oh look there's a bird! I wonder what kind of bird that is. I wonder where I would go if I were a bird. etc etc. Boredom is really important for our brains, and having an endless supply of entertainment in our pockets kinda ruins that. This is why I have consciously made it a habit NOT to look at my phone when I'm queueing for something. It's a very small change that actually makes a huge difference. ALSO I LOVE YOUR FURSONA (if you can call it that? idk?) Not enough people's fursonas are bugs. Mine would be an atlas moth. okay thank you have a good day
Haha, thank you! That's a good point tbh, I used to look at my phone all the time when out and about, but my husband helped me cut the habit, and I'm generally happier for it because, like you said: I notice a lot more around me, I think more about the things I've engaged with and the movies or games I've watched, I have more conversations. Also Fursona is definitely not an incorrect word for it lmaoo. Bugsonas rise up!
When I want to reminisce about just a few years back, I grab the shitty photos I took on a disposable camera instead of any of the photos on my phone. They are physical and they are imperfect, and it makes it all the more real
As somebody who’s still a teenager and has a vinyl collection, I completely agree. These a different feeling to listening to something on Spotify compared to taking out one of the old vinyls and putting it on a turntable, listening to the fuzz and crackle of it. Especially when the record is used, and you can see through the scratches that somebody else has loved and enjoyed the same music as you.
It's actually hilarious when someone is intentionally seeking out the things we tried hard to avoid. Scratches, static, crackles were the bane of our existence.
I do think physical media is very important and also superior to its digital counterpart. I feel this especially with books and even more so with comic books. Like, reading a comic digitally is nice, it maybe even flows nicer (when you’re scrolling at least), but reading a comic physically is so much better because the artwork feels so much more tangible (and don’t even get me started on double-page spreads). I do sadly still read the majority of my comics digitally, because reading them physically is really expensive, but whenever there’s a comic I really like or know I will love I try to get the best physical edition I can.
I grew up listening to cassette tapes and when I wanted to listen to a song multiple times I had to rewind every time and stop when I thought I was near the beginning of the song. Definitely taught me patience.
As a possibly neurodivergent person I have to add that added convenience is known to decrease satisfaction. In short the less you work for it the less it sates your brain. The effect multiplies several times for ADHD brain, basically debilitating people and leading to things like obesity because you need to keep CONSUMING to reach the minimal amount of satisfaction and it keeps getting worse and worse. Adding sensory steps between me and satisfaction helped me immensely, ie letting me loose 35 pounds in a quarter, eating more cake than ever in my life. We stoped binging anime and it’s fun again, even though forcing Netflix to go back and play openings and endings everytime is major pain. Now if only I would be able to cut my internet addiction I would be able to get so much more done.
This hits so hard for me. I actually didn't know I had ADHD until I started to lean into these conveniences and my life became more and more isolated. Looking back, I can see my tendencies and issues were the same, but managed because of my environment, before I spent most of my time in my own home, at a computer, and engaging almost exclusively through the Internet. I had a lot more physical community before which greatly helped me operate more normally. Not having that now has been a stark realization and contrast.
I disagree that it results in less satisfaction. It would also have no relation to obesity. People don't get obese from over-consuming food due to it not being satisfying, but because it is extremely satisfying.
As everything is as readily available as the next thing, less things feel special to me nowadays. The inconvenience of rituals such as putting on a vinyl, a DVD or a CD, making my coffee by hand and not just push a button, taking the time to open a book (and I haven't done that in a long time until recently) instead of looking for an excerpt on the net gives me the capacity to treasure an experience and form a bond with it. Making it special to myself who noticed a decline in excitement in his life. Because when everything goes by quickly, I feel like not forming as many memories anymore. I don't want that, so at some points I am and will be reintroducing some inconvenience into my life. To have some time to breathe and enjoy one thing at a time. To lend my unshared attention to that one thing I am doing right now. And that's what I feel is lost in some parts of todays craze for optimization and productivity as a byproduct of the convenience.
I’m so glad this video found me this was genuinely one of the most beautiful and well-crafted essays I have watched so I just had to check out the rest of your channel. Another thing specifically about vinyl players is how their “inconvenience” on skipping a song having to lift and drop the needle at the perfect spot does something for us that streaming services can’t. Lots of people would just let the side play through out and just be with whatever music that plays. Giving us the control to skip a song at any time with the press of a button really took that state of just letting all the music play and enjoying the full album away from us.
We are becoming more and more disconnected from others and ourselves. I am a boomer and I have a turn table. I love the feeling of putting the record on and the sound it makes. Easier is not always better.
One thing I hate is self checkout. Stores have chosen to make it the quicker option for them to save some money. And it just upsets me, because it is just one more social interaction that is being removed from our lives, separating us from our fellow humans.
The Book speech from Psycho-Pass always comes to mind: "Books are not something that you just read words in. They're also a tool to adjust your senses. When I'm not feeling well there are times that I can't take in what I read. When that happens, I try to think about what could be hindering my reading. There are books that I can take in smoothly even when I'm not feeling well. I try to think why. It might be something like mental tuning. What's important when you tune is the feeling of the paper that you're touching with your fingers and the momentary stimulation your brain receives when you turn pages..." Because everyone has everything immediately in their world, nothing is important, all the way from books to connections. In having to give nothing up for what they receive, the people never understand what it means to truly engage with a piece of media, an event, a person even. I think convenience is great for those who need it more than others, and so I'm glad we have the mediums that we do now, some level is required. But we feel such a need for it now because our time is stolen by endless work and toil. We should not ask for more convenient options, we should ask for more time to engage with inconvenient ones, to engage with important ones. I want to spend an hour with my partner just setting up an activity or a medium and not feel like we've wasted 1/3 of our real free time, to appreciate that we are, for this moment, simply existing together
I've been utilizing my local library more recently, and it has been great to pick up physical DVDs and books that I get to enjoy for free! The limited time I get with the media before the return date also makes me appreciate it more in a way. I still get the interaction with the librarian helping me find what I'm looking for, or the person at the checkout desk. There is a knowledge that I am probably not the first nor the last person to pick this item up, that there is a history of people that have enjoyed this thing and will continue to enjoy it after me. It's less convenient to leave the house and pick up a CD, or to wait for someone to return it so it becomes available, but it means a whole lot more than simply streaming it.
YEAH Libraries are great! I remember finding a ton of comics and manga that I wouldn't have discovered otherwise at the local library when I was young.
I really enjoyed this take. I like to write on Substack and you’ve inspired a future essay for me. Thank you! I’m glad Gen Z are trying to rediscover what made our Millennial childhoods so much better. And why it fostered a sense of community and care for others over care about only oneself.
Its become interesting to me how much i have been turning towards the more inconvenient ways of doing things more and more frequently as of late. Im not even 30 yet and here i am writing a paper list to take to the grocery store. Monday this week i went to see a movie in theaters, Lawrence of Arabia, which relased 62 years ago. I could have watched it at home for free but i went to the theater just because i could. It feels weird growing up loving the Internet and all the new technologies that came out, and now I feel im growing more and more to avoid them.
I'm in my mid 20s and I've recently started learning how to write in cursive. It started with learning how to cut a quill pen, then how to use a dip pen, then how to write with it, and now I'm buying stamps to send letters to my siblings
i was born in 2005 and still refuse to let go of the tech and formats i grew up using. i appreciate the convenience of things like spotify (which i still use on occasion) and netflix, but know that the ads and limited selection of media just isn't worth it. on top of that, having every song i could ever want available at my fingertips kinda kills some of the joy of listening and i like that i have to be choosy with things like cds. still miss my local blockbuster.
omg the way you put into words the reason why I love to collect cds and why i still hold onto my childhood dvds even when my mom says it's time to let go... amazing video! (so so nostalgic and forever mourning not experiencing a world without modern internet)
Never let them go. In rainy nights of a friday when the wifi company cutted the signal, you'll be GRATEFULL you have something to watch with your family bc of keeping them instead of sitting on unconfortable silence together. I know i always do!! The wifi getting disconnected until monday happened to me MANY times to count.
Thank you for this beautiful video. I have recently made a lot of changes that mean i get to interact with more books, CDs, DVDs, and the difference it has made is really quite astonishing. I sincerely hope to see record shops and DVD shops and in person shopping make a return in the future
there's also something to say about how streaming has ruined the connection of a lot of shows now. on one hand there's the common complaint of how shows have gone from full 20-something episode seasons airing every year to maybe 8 or ten episodes with anywhere between one and four years between seasons. but also, there was something special about making time in your evening to watch a show when it aired live, then be able to talk to your friends at school or work about it the next day. it feels so much more disconnected now
![Coheed and Cambria - Searching for Tomorrow [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hDsYGLbmadg/mqdefault.jpg)
HOLY MOLY thank you all so much for watching! I've been trying to reply to every comment, but it's getting harder with SO MANY people being so wonderful and supportive!
If you enjoyed this, do consider watching some of my other videos! I put just as much work into each of those as I did this one (sometime more lol)!
thank you all so much again, I still can't believe this has hit 10k!
You're on a fast track to success. I really, really identified with this. Well-thought-out and animated / edited. You got this.
Loved it. As a record player owner this is something that I've had in the back of my mind for a while but had not been put into words so clearly until now. Good job!
This video is awesome. I LOVE old tech for the fact that the inconvenience is part of the experience.
Oh my, looking at your usual view counts, the algorithm Really Liked this video (and so did we!)
@@anushwah Haha, yeah, the fact that the views are still going up is wild to me lmao. I certainly don't expect my next ones to do so well, but I won't say no to the influx of eyeballs seeing my stuff and becoming aware of my existence lmao!
You know what I miss? DVD extras. Like, the ones that went hard. Bloopers, commentary, the making of, and even the silly little games that helped to extend movie night.
I vividly remember a snowball fighting game on the DVD for Santa Claus 3 that was so hard to control my brother and I couldn't pass the first level lmao
@@Stofferjib Shrek 2 Far Far Away Idol my beloved...
Brother Bear’s Rutt and Tuk commentary version, my beloved
@@GryndStone came here to say that but u beat me lmao
I mention commentary tracks all the time to people when talking about discs vs streaming. I usually get hit with indifference. I love them. Sometimes the tracks were just industry folks patting each other on the back, but sometimes you'd get juicy back stories and inside jokes, and sometimes you'd get a master class on how to direct a film. There are some full commentary tracks on RUclips posted by enthusiasts, and I think the studios should post them for free for listening to while streaming.🤓
“Does one need to smell flowers more quickly, more efficiently” is such a good quote
Put it on the little tea tab quotes. That's truly great.
The answer is...yes. It's a more enjoyable experience if you get to smell more flowers and different kinds of flowers than less, and spend more money on those flowers.
@@YourGirlYang I think I get what you’re trying to say, but I think it’s missing the point. Streaming isn’t going away, nor should it, but we lose something important when it’s the only option.
when we smell flowers, where are we? a relative's home? city garden? how did we get there? who's with us? @@YourGirlYang
@@YourGirlYang Not only that, but you could be guided through smelling a variety of flowers, and told what to notice about each. You could come away with a greater appreciation and understanding of your sense of smell, instead of smelling one rose and thinking, "Hey, yeah, that smells pretty sweet."
It's like optimizing the fun out of a cozy game
This is a surprisingly apt way to put it, I like that lol
Big tech, corporations, and greedy unchecked capitalists and their investors want to optimize everything for their benefit, profits, numbers-go-up, growth, gross income for themselves, and along the way, intentionally or not, fun dies in the process, becoming just another aspect killed by the vampirism that is unregulated capitalism. And its not just the bigwigs and lobbyists and those able to be lobbyists, its also the independent creators, who can barely afford to live and eventually cave in to the stresses and demands and shiny offers of the system, and become soulless, heartless sellouts just to stay alive or survive in the system. This applies also, to the overworked, underpaid, burnt-out employees at many places of employ - especially those corporations.
The antimony here is optimization vs betterment.
It's really kind of not though, because you're not listening to music for the experience of finding it and not listening to it. You're listening to it to enjoy music. What you're looking for is collection. Become a collector if that's what you want.
I really couldn't disagree more with this statement. The fun of a cozy game is the experience of playing it. The fun of music is listening to it, not spending lots of money to get your hands on it and having to go through a lot of extra steps to listen to the music. Essentially what you're saying is that you don't like listening to music, you like going through the process of getting the music rather than actually hearing it.
I was born in 2008 and have never experienced the birth of the iPhone, the iPod, the internet, I've grown up with a life of convenience. I realized last year that all this convenience has spoiled almost everything for me, and so Ive been turning away from social media in small ways, from switching to a voice and text only phone to vinyls to making sure I left to go to an event at least once a month, whether it be a parade or a festival or even just going to Barnes and Noble and talking to someone there. This has changed my life in such a profound way, I dont think I can go back.
I think it's wonderful that you've made that change. I think you'll have a deeper and richer life. I didn't have a smart phone till I was in my forties, and I can never get used to constant notifications, and I don't know how anyone can live sanely with the constant interruption!! I've turn them off, or even better, turn off the damn phone and live life!!!
That's awesome that you did that!
@@emilymann1175 Same for me! I keep my phone on do not disturb mode. I can't stand the constant dings and buzzes and notifications of everything. I've also gotten rid of all social media except youtube. No facebook, instagram, tik tok, twitter, reddit. None of that. I felt 100% better and more at peace once I dropped them all.
Any yet, so many young people claim that us adults are "disconnected" when we argue that these things mattered and still matters. It gives me some hope for the future hearing about young people discovering the joy of interacting not only with physical media, but also the human interaction that often comes with it.
that gives me more hope in the future, thanks!
This is why vinyl has made such a large comeback. To be able to hold it, see the cover art, listen to it in its intended order, the ritual. It's not just you mate, this modern era has lost something vital.
The modern era has lost a lot of vital things.
Vinyls were a convinience at a point in time. Bet you can use this argument for what the creation of vinyls took away from people.
@@rexibhazoboa7097 Radios would have come before that, but before radio it was listening to live music. Concerts, street performers, and learning to play the pieces yourself. It's another level of engagement worth keeping around. Of course, most people can't afford to have their own private band following them around playing all the latest hits. That's why radios were such a great addition. Having a disc jockey curate the music and play it so you could tune in whenever made music as a whole more accessible.
I'm a huge proponent of promoting live music and practicing the arts because of how engaging they are. Beyond the music itself, it offers a gathering place.
@@pamspray5254 that’s why I’m not fully with this “convenience is faulty” mentality. The argument in itself has faults. Live music from professionals or singing to yourself will be the most intimate way of experiencing something. Everything else that came after is due to convenience.
@@rexibhazoboa7097 There are perks to simplicity and convenience. Just so long as we don't forget how to enjoy or employ the roots, we'll be alright.
Something I like to tell myself is -"skills are based off of our inconveniences."
-yoink-
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thanks for the quote :D
damn ur a poet I'm stealing this. thank you!!
Well said.
At a recent wedding, I attended, the bride’s cousin sketched pages in a small commemorative book at various key moments, and applied watercolors. What a terrific, personal, tangible gift.
Aw, that sounds wonderful!
That's cool!
Yes, a friend eschewed a photographer in favour of having an artist sketch key moments.
“Content” is a word that makes my spine shiver more and more. I’m not innocent of consumerism, but I try to be mindful of it.
The joy of vinyl, for me, is the packaging. Some albums are just so creative in their liner notes and art, and that’s something that just can’t be replicated on a screen. There’s a joy to looking at all of the details in a physical copy.
I've thought many a time about making a video about why I dislike the word "Content" so much lol, but I think I covered my thoughts fairly well on it in that segment hahaha
sometimes i go into record stores and buy based off the covers alone. me and my partner have found some great ones while browsing like this.
This may also be why knitting, crochet and creative mending have made such a strong comeback. There is so much satisfaction in physically creating something, a plus if it is practical or insanely cute.
I miss analog.
Physical ways to start a thing. I miss clicky play buttons on media players. I miss the act of doing things.
I miss the inconvenience of things.
i recommend you go pick up a used cassette deck on offerup and go see how many awesome tapes are being made. lots of clanky asmr will occur in the handling of cassette tapes :D
Totally agree, the clicky buttons on 1980s and 1990s devices were perfect. As were the soft open mechanisms on media devices, and auto reverse etc.
I hate touchscreen controls on devices, I don’t want a touchscreen on my microwave, oven, fridge …. and most importantly not in a car. I really don’t want to operate my car heating system for example, by selecting menu options on a dashboard touchscreen, I want buttons.
The lack of buttons is not for our convenience though, it’s cheaper for the auto manufacturers.
I don’t understand how it’s even legal for cars to have touchscreens, there’s a reason why using mobile phone screens is banned.
@@michaell8835 Tactile sensations are everything with technology. I was very sad when i couldn't get a cell phone with actual buttons any more
No ones fault but your own! If you miss it why not buy it as everything is still available on analog!
@@michaell8835 that also creates a whole lot of safety concerns when it comes to cars. with physical buttons you dont need to look at the controls to your a/c. you can feel them, have their place rememberd and operate it while still looking at the road. with a touchscreen you constantly need to look at said screen, especially when the controls are hidden in 3 submenus, thus you not looking at the road and being aware
Another convenience that you didn't touch on in this is food delivery apps. You lose the ritual of going out to eat, seeing people, the anticipation at the table as you wait for your food to arrive... Even when ordering delivery, digging through our drawer full of takeaway menus and calling up the same person who was always working on a Friday night
Yeah that's another big one for sure! I think I didn't touch on that cuz I stopped using those after covid for that exact reason haha, I went right back to actually visiting in person lol, so its not one that hits me personally quite as hard so I didn't think about it!
@@MecklesFrog Same with us, that's why I thought of it! We only used them a handful of times during COVID, because we realised that without the actual going out to the restaurant, we didn't actually enjoy restaurant food that much. We called it the 'DoorDash taste', of food that's been sat steaming in a bag
I don't use delivery services, but I've never been big on going out to eat either. It's the walk to the grocery store that's been a ritual for me, and often the only reason I'll ever get outside some days. I'm lucky I have the privilege of living close enough to a store to make the journey on foot whenever I need. Paying someone else to do that for me would remove a perfectly good walk from my schedule.
I don't like America's usual kind of restaurant experience, but going out for Pho or such where you just pay and sit down is nicer to me then having to wait to order, wait to pay afterwards, etc. Kind of like a much more wholesome healthy fast food, but no drive-thru.@@Max.Paprika
Food delivery Apps are all that plus they exploit quasi-slave labour. Just so that we don't need to leave the house.
The greatest thing about vinyl is there's no commercials every 2 minutes.
And also the music of course 😉
IMO, These conviniences are an issue because they intuitively guide us towards mindless consumerism while deep frying our dopamine receptors.
Losing the rituals around an activity like listening the records or going to movie rental place removes the hedonistic part of music listening or watching a movie and obviously takes away from the immersion, through no fault of our own.
I find that creating a ritual around these activities with all their conviniences helps A LOT. So maybe the blame also falls on us as consumers that we started passively engaging with slow paced hedonistic activities.
P.S. I love your videos man, keep up the great work.
Oh I hard agree, I make a ritual out of listening to music in the kitchen by dancing with my dog (I dance while we play tug of war lol) when things are just sorta stewing on the stove, and I find that this silly little thing makes me engage with and enjoy the music much more actively.
Oh. I miss walking into video rental places and making my decisions thoughtfully 😭
I love the idea of creating a ritual!! Yes, I could microwave water for my tea, but maybe it's kinda fun to do it with a kettle! I could make my grocery lists on my phone, but maybe it's nice to actually cross off an item on my list while at the store. It might be faster to drive to the park, but it's well within walking distance so might as well! Could I have any book online? Yes, but it's nice to go to the library and get a physical copy! I'm gonna start practicing more rituals!!!
I find no evidence for any frying of dopamine receptors. Seems to be a popular myth perpetuated by a fringe crowd that believes in other nonsense like dopamine detoxing.
If someone enjoys the ritual of playing vinyl then their reward centres are being triggered when they think about putting one on and during the ritual itself.
Neither is there anything particularly slow about pulling out an LP and putting it on. Probably takes 30 seconds.
@@howmakebeans Actually reading physical books is worse though.
“The process of doing something is oftentimes more calming and pleasurable than the end result” ~me, who dislikes tea, after completing a tea ceremony.
I call it the death of the browsing economy. Browsing a video store, book store or record store was a journey of discovery. You were exposed to things you maybe wouldn't have seen otherwise. You could try something new out, maybe it's terrible but maybe it's something you really like so you want to see more. Now everything is fed to us based on what the algorithm wants to show us. There is no discovery anymore and god help you if you want to try to find something outside your feed (try to do this the next time you're on Netflix). We're not discovering anymore, we're just consuming what's being served up to us.
That's a good way to put it! I think that's part of why I love going to places like goodwill and thrift stores, it harkens back to the sense of discovery.
metal archives baby
Spotify is really bad for this, even my own playlists have stuff they suggested added to them, and it's always the same artists and songs (presumably based on some sort of deal in the background).
chance encounters; without them, all you're left with is optimization and reducing everything to its bare basic function
I discovered Man from Earth by browsing the video store. One of my absolute favourite films. I wouldn't have come across it without that experience.
As a 35-year-old....man, what a superb but devastating video essay. Really collected so many of my thoughts into one video in the most condensed, poignant, sad way. A lot of funny little nuggets thrown in with the edits but mostly in a "too true" kind of humor that matches the video theme.
Coming at this a month late and talking into the void, my only addition is that, oddly, if you want to still experience these physical interactions, they're becoming more and more of a luxury. You might be able to find an arcade or a music store, but the cost associated with engaging is, or seems to be, higher than ever. The one arcade here would cost a week's worth of food for me, Vinyl stores have to have their prices bumped up to keep the lights on, and the equipment cost is a barrier to entry as well. Going out for a coffee or lunch feels like a formal meeting rather than a spontaneous hangout (and again, costs so much). And because everyone is somehow always so busy (in spite of so much convenience), getting people together in person is becoming a Herculean effort.
To that last point, which I guess is my main sticking point....is that with all our convenience and quality of life, a lot of us are somehow relatively poorer and have less free time. Have new responsibilities and hobbies taken the place of that old boredom? Or are we simply acclimated to isolation already?
I'm a massive introvert, but even I recognize that sometimes, being forced to interact with others can be a good thing. And in spite of enjoying the ability to practically not leave the house for weeks on end, I've realized the last 6 years have flown by with not much actual human experience to show for it. So I'm both guilty and despising of how life is now. But I feel that it takes a concerted effort from an entire community to change the status quo.
Then they ... they came up with COVID. ..
I feel this a lot. It happens with shopping too. My dad frequently asks why I went out to buy some things when I could just order online, and it ticks me off. I thought it was mostly because we live in a desert climate, our house doesn't have AC, and the store does, why *wouldn't* I, but the isolation of convenience is absolutely also a factor.
I love going out to shop physically. Being around people, the sounds of the mall, being able to actually hold something in my hands to decide if I want to buy it.
also the AC is always nice lmao
I feel like I prefer to buy things in person purely because I dont like waiting for shipping.
yesss
i also rarely order anything online even when i don't have access to a lot where i live. i travel around and out of the country pretty frequently and just hope i come across what i was looking for in a bigger city. i also feel like this delays gratufication and decreses the amount of impulsive spending when i actually have to wait to buy the thing i want
@@Yipper64 My thoughts exactly. I usually only order things online if I can't find it locally. Funnily enough, I find it more convenient to drive to the store and physically buy something than order it online. Why would I want to wait 3 days to get what I want and pay for shipping when I can drive 15 minutes to the store and have it today?
A comment I read which changed my view on a lot of things was that in the modern age we may be critically understimulated.
We think of screens as over stimulating (and in some ways they can be)
But a screen is a flat surface of minimal texture that we tap again and again. It’s always the same.
Meanwhile if we grab onto twigs and leaves or mud, tools, mash our hands into bananas to make banana bread, etc etc
This all is a lot more stimulating for the sense of touch.
The colors that print or a screen can display if I remember right are not the full range of colors we can see. Going outside is going to show a vast array of colors that can only be mimicked via relative color on screens. Things are always moving outside and unpredictably. Outside of our control. Sounds which we don’t choose are a constant too.
It all does a lot for the mind even before incorporating people.
When you deal in physical media it requires you to move at least a little, touch and interact things just a little. When there were places to go for these things rather than online shopping, it would draw you out to be around others too. Even if only a little bit. And hey while you’re out maybe you should stop by the grocery or get something to eat-
All these things snowball together.
I think this is just a small part of the larger problem of society isolating from each other. But it’s all the small parts that are linked together. Once one of these begins to corrode, all of it feels the impact.
I’ve been shut in for awhile now, and here is what I have learned:
It is easy to disconnect, but the longer you disconnect, the harder connecting again becomes. Disconnecting is a trap.
Being around people and things outside your control keeps your mind much more stable. Once I was able to work remotely is when the misophonia began.
I think things like social anxiety might be aided if we had to be out in the world more, but something like that has a lot of contributing factors, so I don’t want to say it is the only reason those rates are high now, but I do believe it contributes. The longer you’re away from people, the harder it is to draw on socializing skills (or to have opportunity to develop them), the scarier and more embarrassing it is to interact with others. Another cycle.
I’m glad physical is making a return, I hope we begin to reclaim community in general as well. It may take new forms than what the past looked like, but the isolation is bringing such harm to everyone. Idk if I will ever be able to join it, but I want that for all the suffering and lonely people out there now.
I am just happy to be able to go out and make the conscious choice now to pick up leaves and mess with them, to stop looking down when I walk and try and really see everything. It’s a start, y’know?
Wow, you really hit the nail on the head, it speaks volumes to me so much, thank you 🙏
i read every word. brilliant.
i would love to quote you in a video i’m thinking of making. how could i do so?
Okay, Boomer. (As someone who still a kid, I have fallen in love with physical media. I buy vinyl records, I look at my old DVDs with love, I want to buy a walkman. And, yeah, part of is could be me wanting to be pretentious, but its also just the love and want for media that I collect. You're so based, man 😭)
I don't think there's anything pretentious about wanting to be able to physically engage with the art you enjoy!
too true as someone who is also a kid (i tried typing more but couldnt find the poise)
You don't want cassettes, they're a pita, CDs have better sound and let you skip whole tracks.
@@lainiwakura1776 I cannot agree. If the sound on a cassette is bad it's either because the source was low quality or the pickup head is low quality.
Sony's Walkman line is still around, and the new ones are MP3 players. I love mine because there are no ads, subscription fees, or microphones recording my conversations to target ads at me.
This video had me crying into my lunch today. Thank you. I have spent my entire adult life (I’m in my 30’s) digging my heels into the ground to cling to as much physicality and intention in my consumption of art as I can, and this video made me feel less alone in my reasons for that. It’s all beautifully put. Just…thank you.
To me it feels much, much harder to simply **absorb** without physically interacting. Art, music, crafts of all sorts. We can watch videos on it all day but we'll never have a single ounce of experience without being able to do it.
I think a lot of people feel lonely and detached from the world around them, because the emphasis on speed and convenience in EVERY SINGLE component of people's lives has conditioned people to not absorb the world around them. To not take in and appreciate every idiosyncrasy, every small detail, every weird person in their community around them. I find many people are baffled as to why I choose to buy something in person, or go to the library to get books, tv, movies, etc, or why I choose to take the metro on most of my trips. And the reason is because when I do those things I get absorb the world around me. I get to take in details, ask questions about why things are the way they are, and even create stories from even mundane actions. When I buy something in person there is a story of me taking in my surroundings. Noticing a sign some other person decided to put up that guided me in there, the browsing of the inventory, taking in the careful design and layout of the store, interacting with other customers, talking to the cashier. There's a story there, unlike online shopping where it's just clicking buttons. Additionally taking the metro I find a lot more emotionally fulfilling than driving because I get a story, I get to be with the other people on the train, sometimes with weird but ultimately interesting people, and not having to drive the train or the bus allows me to dedicate other time to doing anything else. Perhaps I want to talk with the other people on the train and get their life story, or just overhear a weird conversation, or watch something happen, or possibly read a book, or even just observe the surroundings of the train or the sights of the city. As opposed to driving, where I often lack such aesthetic bliss and ability to just appreciate and experience the small mundane things around me.
I think people are really lacking in the ability to just live in the world. Not to fear it, not to work in it, not to optimize it, but to just live, to slow down, enjoy and appreciate every little weird detail of life.
please add paragraph breaks lol.
i do agree though. Everyone's so caught up in being fast and getting shit done that they can't take 5 seconds to do anything else or even pay attention (hell, i do the same thing).
public transport is non-existent in my state though (i think that's true for most of the US lol), but by god do i wish we had it. I'm terrified of driving and don't wanna deal with that shit, but i'm forced to either do that or go bankrupt with constant [insert whatever version of Uber is relevant rn] fees - and if you can't drive, you can't go *anywhere.*
Very well said.
That’s how I lived in Singapore. But now I am back in the uk and ten miles from anywhere like that. Country living was always a bit lonely but at least now we can participate more.
15:00 "this isn't meant to be an 'I'm 100% correct and anyone who disagrees is a fool' type of video." Ah, but you see. You *are* 100% correct. The Blockbusters of the world were third and fourth places, they were much needed human interaction.
You put this so well into words. The isolation of convenience. It isn't just the loss of the media, but the loss of the community around it. Which I think, in many ways, is more than half the value. So many books, movies, games I'd never have interacted with if it weren't for that community. It didn't matter so much to me if I even liked it, because I liked the conversation and the time I spent with people while participating in it so much more.
Thank you! That's the part I think about the most when it comes to these things, is how many little interactions we had with others that have gone away because of smart technology.
Exactly
Remember only having to buy something once?
@@aroseydragon2873 no because inevitably things you love tend to wear out because you use them a lot. I've definitely bought certain CD's and records multiple times.
About three weeks ago I bought an iPod and a vertical-loading Sony CD player. My favorite thing so far about listening to music this way, after eight years on streaming, is the silence you hear when the album is done playing. You don’t get a smart shuffle recommendation, you don’t get the record restarting automatically, or another song from the artist’s back catalogue; you get silence. You get to think about what you just heard.
It blew my mind and I couldn’t believe something as small as silence could be so profound to me, but it was. I haven’t been this intentional about my music listening in a very long time (probably since my iPod nano days in 2008 or so).
Great video, never seen one of yours before but you got a new sub :) keep it up!
That is REAL tbh. I noticed that with vinyls, that once the album was over I had a chance to stop and just think about what I heard without it jumping right into a new song, it really allowed the album to have its own identity, it allowed me to think about it as it's own piece rather than just a constant stream of music. I've actually started pausing streaming after an album ends just so I can stop and think about it lol
i havent really dabbled in a lot of physical media in recent years but even i appreciate this as well because i also always pause after listening to an album so i can think about it, youtube videos too because if you put them in a playlist they just constantly play so i have to try my hardest to pause before the next video starts and right when the one im watching ends
Are you talking about the Sony Dream Machine ICF-CD3iP that f4mi talked about in a video? I have it too and it goes great with my iPods and physical CD collection
I mean you can do that with Apple music
I had never thought about this before, but you're so right. The silence afterward gives you an opportunity to digest. With my vinyl records, I do go and get the needle off the record as soon as I can (apparently if the stylus bumps against the center label too much, it can damage the stylus), but I do appreciate the low hum you get at the end.
You nailed it when you said "countless forms of ENTERTAINMENT" - part and parcel to this whole issue is the passive nature of most entertainment, and our technology and society working to make it more passive. This also ties in with how the entertainment out there is more and more becoming corporate-driven slop. The prevailing philosophy that it shouldn't have effort. and we shouldn't interact with it, only consume. Create? Interact? No. Produce and consume. And then move on to the next consumption.
I feel like this extends to books and literature too. I love my little library of physical books that I've read because when I look at the shelf, I can feel proud in my accomplishment of having actually turned the page from beginning to end. It's a satisfying feeling looking at the spines of each book, reminescing as I see the titles and remembering brief snippets of the individual stories. If I had an E-reader/kindle, that entire process would be lost and all I'd have is this black tablet that if it were to suddenly die, I'd have to buy a new one. Worse yet, if the online catalogue of those books were to go away, I'd lose all traces of my reading history.
Yeah! Physicality is important because it becomes part of a space, of an environment. It allows something to exist in more than a ethereal sense, and allows each book or movie or whatever to have it's own identity as an object.
I agree with this mostly - yet I still own a kindle for those moments where I go traveling and have no space to bring like four books with me (I am quite a fast reader so when I go away for a week I have no issues getting thru like three books, and with a health disability, suitcase space is something I cannot extend haha) But nothing will ever replace the physical book for me.
i just really dislike reading books from like e-readers , i dont know why but that might be part of it
I haven't really been into books but if i ever do i would definitely obtain them physically
I prefer listening to books (it helps me get through chores I would otherwise never get to), but I love seeing a book and being reminded of my favorite scene. I navigate this by borrowing the ebook from my library and then buying a hard copy if I liked it enough. Best of both worlds, I think.
What I miss most is meeting people with the same passion for music from your town at the music store
I can't drive so I can't even really go anywhere if I want to, and I feel like the whole overreliance on cars is another reason why people just stay at home? idk it's why I never leave
I do think, at least in the US, lack of easily accessible public transport and so much space being taken up by parking lots does lead to less room/opportunities for unique experiences tbh
@@MecklesFrog There is plenty of Public Transportation throughout the US, however the US Size alone makes it impossible to cover it entirely with a generic "Public Transportaion" solution. It works fine in Cities, and in a lighter sense Suburban and semi Rural areas, but once you venture far enough away from a big city and its surrounding sub towns, there is no reason to have a dedicated line going to only one area. This is where Rideshare/Cabs filled the gaps if you are unable to just drive yourself. Having your own car outside of a city, or even within one, gives you the Freedom to go wherever you want, whenever you want and unlike Europe, the US does not have a problem of space for things.
The main problem overall which this video somewhat covers, is the whole "Instant Gratification" did destroy the whole Retail and in person experience for Shopping, social activities, etc. since everything like music, movies, food, work, etc. can all be brought right into your home, keeping you from ever needing to leave your home.
The effort of removing these services from your life, is the only way to sort of step back and see that, there is still a lot of world and life out there, but you have to unfocus from the Tech around you, and literally go out and "touch some grass" which while usually said in a joking way, isn't the worst advice to give your mind a break and reset to see what really is worth spending your time on and experiences to engage in.
You're right! The US has a big problem with sprawling suburban neighbourhoods that isolate the people that live there. Because everything is so far away, you kinda have to do all these things from home.
That's just one issue among other things, but there's a whole community around the concept of urban planning. I think your comment shows you have the mindset for it, so if you don't mind, may I recommend a few RUclips channels?
- Strong Towns is an organisation that aims to improve US towns.
- City Beautiful is an informative channel focusing on infrastructure and city planning.
- Yet Another Urbanist likes to talk about how a lot of cities are designed around car use and how it affects us.
Great channels, and if you don't mind my totally unwarranted recommendations, I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do. :)
@@declanashmore Adam Something, while not specifically being about that, is in that constellation of topics, and is very interesting and entertaining too
@@franminanicollier9431 There are a few reasons I didn't mention him. (1) I wanted to stick specifically to urbanism, (2) he's a lot more negative and condescending and (3) he's wrong pretty regularly. I've also not recommended NotJustBikes because it's mostly "America Bad, Holland Good".
If people start with the three channels I recommended above, they'll get well-researched channels that are easy watches, and they'll find channels like Adam Something and Not Just Bikes through the algorithm very quickly. My goal is to start people of with the _good_ content.
I still buy CDs and dvds... it's so sad that life has gotten so fast paced and people don't stop to appreciate it that much
i used to collect so many dvd’s when i was younger, the last few months i’ve started going back into physical media and getting (or upgrading my favourites) to blu ray or 4k discs!
You mentioned cars as an inevitable convenience. Speaking as someone who rides a horse, drives a car, and regularly commutes to work via e-bike, I can say with complete authority that the "convenience" of driving is easily the most soul-sucking chore of all three. Yes, I get there faster. But on a bike (and on a horse), you're extremely "present" when you're doing it. You're in nature, you feel the weather, you're looking at the birds, hearing the trickle of the stream or the rush of the wind. You're not on your phone, tapped out, bored out of your mind and yelling at the people around you. You're just in it. I think convenience culture started with cars. Sure, they go faster... but then everyone moved further away. We built roads to take us further away, and now those roads are clogged. So have we really made anything more convenient? It still takes you 30 minutes to get anywhere, but instead of walking down a lively street, you're in a car stuck in suburban hell. There are definitely conveniences we all appreciate and would never give up, like the dishwasher and the sewing machine. But a lot of convenience devices can and will ruin the planet (like cars have) and our emotional/creative selves.
Yeah someone else brought up this point, and I def think cars was a bad example to use there, because I agree, car culture is a prime example of convenience culture taking away things that are meaningful experiences, and like you said possibly one of the earliest!
The line just sounded good so I kept it in and didn't think on it too much lol, something to keep in mind for future works tho!
thanks so much for watching!
The city I live in has streetcars (trolleys). People don’t like them because they’re slow but I have a deep appreciation for them because yes they’re slow but they go down the busiest streets so I love to sit in the nice sunny window and watch all the shops and people go by. Because it’s slow and outdoors it lets us see every interaction happening on the street: the person buying flowers, the mom walking a kid to school, the two friends meeting up on the street, people sitting outside cafes. They are slower, but at least they aren’t underground and ugly. I love them so much they’re my favorite way to get around and I will plan extra time to get somewhere just to ride them.
I love going for walks. There is so much you don't see from a car. When did this shop open? Or oh no I liked that shop and they are gone. Slowly watch a tree push the sidewalk out of the way. Or notice that a mansion is slowly falling apart. All things you wouldn't see just rushing by. Or coming across all of your neighborhood animals. On foot you can sneak up on them. You actually get to observe in a way we have erased from our lives.
This is such a Good Point! Sure, I get it, if only to transport things like groceries cars are super convenient, or for accessibility reasons for older people or with kids, pets or handicaps or something. But you’re completely right, from the experience in and on itself nothing compares to riding a bike or a horse, or even a motorcycle. It is an experience in itself, not just transportation from A to B
I think part of it also comes down to how you interact with said convince too. What rituals you apply to it. In regards to the car, this is where I would find I disagree. The car I feel can in this instance equate to CD vs turn table. Sure, you could just drive the car just so you can get from point a to point b, just as you can just put a disk in to have some music playing while you get some other unrelated task done. But with both, and like the turn table and walking examples, we can still take the time to just enjoy the unique experiences they provide. unlike the instant streaming of media, there is still room for those experiences. With those walks, do you ever go a different path just to see what's down it. What about hikes, see the trees, listen to the birds. For driving, you can go find some back road, a forest to drive through, listen to the hum or roar of the engine as you wind through the roads. The big drain for driving (for me at least) is the traffic, the constant stop and go and stop again. But that is the convenient path, go the long way and you may find the time gets filled with a ritual you were not anticipating. It's about the journey. And with most media now days, there is no journey left to take. No longer road. No new trail to hike. Just point a and b.
"What we obtain too cheaply we esteem too lightly." -Thomas Pain
I recently resurrected a 30 years old VCR for that reason. Winding and rewinding is so damn satisfying.
it's all about the WHIRRRRRRRR
A big factor would be circumstance. The narrator and I are probably similar in age, growing up with these changes. But a big factor was if you could afford them. I didn't get internet in my home until 2005. If I wanted to browse, it involved a half hour bus trip to the library and paying by the hour once a week, if I had the money.
Movies were the same, it was an event and an expensive evening out in the bad part of town. I've been to a cinema 6 times in my life and I can remember what I saw in order. Jurassic Park, Aladdin, Die Another Day, Evolution, Atonement and Star Trek. Any DVD's came from second hand stores at 50p each. I've got a good collection but mostly influenced by grandparents tastes and what we had on VHS. Anything outside of that was hit and miss. Love it or hate it, it sat on the shelf.
That has carried on with streaming, I regarded it as too pricey and never bothered. I'm still thankful that something has to grab my attention and grab it hard to facilitate buying a DVD.
Imagine if sports went digital. Just based on the premise that it's apparently more convenient. And athletes just play at their AI managed home gyms in VR. No stadiums, no crowds, no press conferences, no locker room, no hot dogs, no halftime live performances. And all of this is considered a strictly BETTER thing because companies don't have to pay for these supposedly obsolete and unecessary expenses.
It does kinda feel like that lol, granted, thankfully live shows are still around, buuuuuut if you wanna see any big artist it's gonna cost you an arm and a leg lol
Motorsports is crawling into this right now, ai and tech bros trying to make races out of robots, while right now is just crashes and malfunction, it's scary that could be achieved in the future
So true! Imagine if that happened! My god.. We are really getting closer and closer to just living in simulation mode aren’t we
You shut your mouth, don’t speak that evil into existence!! We’re laughing but I’m right
nah man, you're totally right. the "convenience" of everything is a heavy contributor to the Loneliness epidemic.
almost *everything* used to be at least a little bit social. now, almost *nothing* is.
Social interractions are now optional.
Tech to trained act as human suplement
And humans , trained to act as tech (shops and work, seemingly required social interraction)
As someone who's just a teenager and never really got to experience the era of having to go to a shop and buy stuff; I REALLY love collecting vinyl records. There's just something about being able to physically hold my favourite album, having to pull it out of the cover, and throw it on a record player. MAN this stuff is cool.
Great video btw :)
tbh it makes me really sad that things like local malls (a lot of the BIG touristy ones are still around) began to close down, I kind of saw it coming even as a young adult with online shopping becoming so huge, but I didn't quite grasp the actual scale of the cultural shift and the affect it would have on a tangible, human level.
Almost everything around us is made to be resilient, you can drop your mobile phone and it will be ok. Vinyl records are an exception. They should be handled very carefully by their edges. Not thrown onto anything. Enjoy and have fun.
I realized the importance of "rituals" with these inconvienient ways of enjoying things, when I asked a friend of mine why he'd listen to music on vinyl when he knows they degrade each time he listens to them and the quality will not match a FLAC file on his phone. He said "yes, that is precisely why everytime I listen to my favourite records, I get a nice scotch, a joint, and fully enjoy the experience, I make it special every time". I do now the same with films, I got most of my favourite films on Blu Ray.
i went to a bazar the other day. a friend was volunteering as staff, so me and 3 other friends went to chat with her. there was a stand that sold second-hand cds and vynils, and they had a (rather beat up) discman on sale. i took a cd i had never heard before and the discman home. it's now the most beautiful album i've ever listened to.
There was an album I used to listen to to help myself sleep, and it was one that I just randomly grabbed at a second hand cd shop cause the album art looked cool. It was this very native American inspired album of soft nature sounds and panflutes and drums and man, I gotta find that again.
This made me miss my local blockbuster so intensely. It’s been replaced by 3 different gyms, each a financial failure, and now sits vacant.
The one in my home town became a ramen place lol
The curse of Blockbuster
The SMELL of it! (Popcorn machine). Smells like a new SNES / PS1 rental 🤩. Great memories.
my blockbuster died a long time ago and i missed it. Then Spotlight came to town but that died like half a year ago and now i cant have movie nights with my dad.
Being born in 2001. I caught the tail end of this “inconvenient” era. Every time I look back on it I think, “what happened? Where did this go?” This video was the answer to my questions. The modern life of convenience has made my life mundane and simple, even though Im in a bad financial situation. It’s almost dystopian. Living paycheck to paycheck but I own every movie in the world. Budgeting groceries but I dont have to buy cds for my car. Just pop on bluetooth and go. This modern era really is strange.
Seeing the push towards digital exclusive content HURTS! Physical should always remain around!!!
Same. Same. And digital-only just leads to pirating so...
why?
@@Pandor18 mostly for personal control over your products you purchase, with digital you can do far much less with it
@@noaharkadedelgado wouldnt that be ownership vs renting, not vs digital? Like I have some of my favorite movies on a hard drive and in some personal cloud server, not in netflix p.e.? Or is a hard drive not digital?
@@Pandor18personal example: I've purchased Minecraft Pocket Edition in 2017. All was fine until Microsoft decided that they don't like my country now and ever since then I can't download it on my new phone nor update it on my old phone that has it installed. They remotely stole my product that I PAID FOR for reasons I can't do nothing about (aside from moving to another country which is just BS)
This video was beautifully made! Physical and digital media used to go hand in hand, but now it feels like we’ve traded real genuine connections for “convenience”. Why go out and interact when you can experience it all from your bed? Society’s so focused on making things easy that we’ve lost the beauty of inconvenience. It makes me think about and wonder if us as a society has lost a sense of appreciation for the art and effort behind what we watch and listen to
I enjoyed every time i went to places like gamestop as a kid. It definitely is a different experience just going places and meeting people
I'm glad gamestop is still around, tho they definitely sell more like, knick knacks than they do games these days.
I wish technology like the paperlike writing tablet was more mainstream. The convince with no ads, subscription models, or any other strings attached.
The more effort you put into a task the more satisfying the feeling of completing the task and recieving the reward is.
Simple as.
The concept is called Delayed Gratification, and it's something people with neurodiverse brains really struggle with naturally.
Because so much of the modern world has been designed for immediate gratification, the experiences in which delayed gratification naturally arise become more prominent in memory and in effect.
what I'm talking about here isn't quiiiiiiiiiite delayed gratification, but it's very closely related I think! Because while these rituals def have some of that, there's also the cultural, social angle that I think the concept of DG doesn't quite touch on.
"Simple as."
Hard disagree. When I'm calling my doctor because my prescription didn't come through, then I'm calling my insurance because they're denying my need for it, then I'm calling my doctor to make a new appt because the insurance says I have to even though I was just there a few days ago . . .
There's no reward there. No satisfaction. It's all stress and "This should be so much easier than it is."
Sometimes, yes, overcoming a challenge is rewarding. But let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
@@darvinherdegen yeah lol, there are some things where the inconvenience is only that: Inconvenient, and doesn't really have any value to us as individuals. Things that bring us no pleasure, no reward, and only serve to make our lives harder (and often make corporations a little bit richer)
It's really not true though. If I have to go through a lot of effort and spend a lot of money on getting music, then when I finally listen to that music, honestly I feel underwhelmed and like I wasted my time and money. Because now my expectations are so high from all the effort I've had to put into the task of getting the music that when I listen to it, it'll never live up to those expectations. "The harder you work for something, the more fulfilling it is" is not always true, especially with something as trivial as listening to a song.
@@darvinherdegen that's not really the same applied concept but whatever
OK, I'm a real Boomer. I'm 75. It always tells me something about a person when they wonder about what was and how it affects people. You have experienced the changes in your lifetime, but don't realize the changes previous generations have experienced. When I was a kid, the most fun was pick-up baseball and football games with friends and random kids you met while playing. Riding your bike was the way you got to the places across town without the aid (or knowledge) of your parents. What were the daily pleasures of my parents? What are the kids growing up today unaware of that their parents experienced. Every generation of kids are happy with the world they grow up in. Every generation of parents laments that their kids don't understand how great their own childhood was. Technology and generations are changing much quicker now. Kids, today, are growing up in a world much different than even ten years ago.
They will probably think those older kids are totally out of it.
It's kind of crazy that with how rapidly everything else is changing, with trends, city development, the economy, and ESPECIALLY technology.
I sort of agree with you, to an extent. While I think those things change a lot, I feel that children and parents hardly have. Why? Because I've heard tons of people in every single generation talk about those same childhood experiences you described, like about playing outside with other kids or riding your bikes without your parents knowing. Gen x, millennials, gen z, etc. They all say the same thing. Kids don't change, cause their natural instinct to play with other kids, explore, or do things independently is there, for almost every kid, and I don't think parents have either, since most people do what's familiar to them and take after their parents' parenting tactics. It's kind of fascinating how human nature barely changes despite how much can change around them. I even see children today, with their tablets, iPhones, and all, still go out and hang out in the neighborhood or play in the yard with other children. Most kids don't actually want to sit in front of a screen all day. Even introverted or shy kids have a limit and want SOME interaction with peers or freedom.
There are exceptions, like or kids with unfortunate circumstances, but I'm sure that's been in every generation. From what I've seen, they're typically the kids who either have abusive and overly strict parents who don't let their kids have a proper childhood, so they use technology to escape and as their only option of entertainment, or they live in an environment that isn't safe for them to go out and act like a normal kid. Or their parents hooked them on an internet addiction from a very young age to keep them out of their child's hair. Then again, narcissistic parents, bad neighborhoods, or neglectful parenting have always existed.
I think each generation has more in common with each other than we think, maybe not with the technology, state of the economy, fashion, music, movies, civil rights, etc., but at our core, our experiences are not as unique, because people still have the same desires and emotional needs. That's a beautiful thing that I don't think technology will ever take away.
As a 59 year old I concur with getting as much physical media as you can store. Films, music, books, games. Save them
One of my dreams has always been to have an entire room dedicated to books and other physical media haha
The company you bought your physical media from can't suddenly decide you no longer own it and suspend your license, which is another bonus! Half of my Steam games don't work anymore, but no one is taking my records from me!
Yes, and if you don’t have that much space, sleeve your DVDs and cds. And then you can store them like vinyl records.
yeah, books on my shelf feel more real than kindle digital books. Its a different experience for sure.
Yep.You haven't experienced inconvenience until the show your kid has been watching non-stop on streaming is suddenly no longer available, and no where to be found. That was when I became obsessed with dvds.
these reasons are the exact same for why i love arcades
there is nothing quite like it and nerding out with peers
very well put about the generative image crap, i can only believe people who think ai slop is a replacement for art have only ever treated the medium as content to be consumed, rather than a form of communication between artist and viewer, just no introspection on it whatsoever outside of a surface level. it sucks how tech seems to be moving towards being further commodified and asocial but i guess in an ideal world we manage to reach some kind of medium between the freedom of modern tech without sacrificing so much of the social aspect. great vid! :]
Thank you! And yeah, I think the commodification of interaction via social media led into the commodification of things like art. When we started viewing everything as "posts" or "content", rather than "works of art", it really stripped them of a sense of importance that I think pushed people to view them more intimately and critically.
As a photographer, the invasion of AI based photo editing gets me feeling unnerved. It's easier than ever to replace a boring sky with a sunset in a few clicks, or add a plane or delete all the people in the scene. I like photography as it's a glimpse of a time and place, and you can create wonder by showing angles and times and views that others rarely see. It's all too easy to fake it now. You might as well just generate birds in flight instead of finding them.
I feel like this is the best analysis of "its not always about the destination, but the journey". Makes me wonder about what key moments the future generations will grow up with, like even for me a fond memory was having my mate over playing Xbox 360 and my controller went flat, so we rode our bikes down to my nans for AA batteries because there were none at home and then ride back: purely so we can play more Xbox together. And it gets even crazier when you realise that the generations before me have similar stories: climbing trees, riding bikes and meeting up at the milk bar, going to the arcade, etc etc. And as they grew up they probably had the same thoughts about what the journey will look like for the coming generations?
I feel like this sort of stuff is stuff that new kids need, whereas in this modern world of instant gratification and convivence these kids are missing out on having journeys and I feel that this desire for unlimited convivence is the root behind the ongoing loneliness epidemic- social media, lack of split screen gaming, an overall less need to leave the home. It can't be healthy.
Basically, we don't actually need everything at our fingertips. There are some incredible aspects of AI but the way it immediately wormed its way into contributing to the way we overwhelmingly consume media is terrifying
Yeah AI has some absolutely fantastic implementations, but the replacement of creation, of physical interactions, things that make being human well, cool, isn't a very good use of it lol
we really dont
It's a shame that we're not using AI to rid us of the most menial & repetitive tasks like we should be
@@ElysiumGD Didn't they make a robot put away boxes for so long that it just collapsed? I don't think even robots are going to survive the way people are treated in labour tasks
@@AndyTheBoiz oh damn :(
this is one of the biggest reasons i make it a point to visit the movie theater and library as often as i can. we’ve lost the intimacy and passion for art. we’ve lost collective social experiences that create community and i think that contributes to the disconnect felt by so many people.
I really miss physical media, it's why I'm collecting for the PS2 and PS1. Physical Media also meant you actually OWNED what you bought. It's more important now than ever.
I own a physical copy of Castlevania Symphony of the Night and it's one of my prized possessions lol
@@MecklesFrog Nice.
As a 45 year old, I would like to offer my personal confirmation of the joy and reward of the little rituals around going to the video store (a ritualistic space must be physically separate from the mundane, requiring some form of time and effort to go there) choosing a movie (making a personal act in said ritualistic space connects you to that space) and then returning Home with the Ritual Object that everyone gathers around the 21st century alter of media, the TV (each in their usual seat) to have a communal experience by watching a story unfold. We all go on that emotional journey together, and then we have that experience that newly refreshes our social bond, because we all agree it was awesome when John McLean jumps off the building, or when Ripley walks out in the Power Loader suit. Or when Cap picks up Mjolnir.
The stories we tell have always connected us. But as Marshall McLuhan said: the Medium is the Message; by reducing the experience of TV, movies, music, books, etc to "stuff you do on your phone" it flattens all those experiences. Thank you for attending my tedtalk 😊
I'm right there with you on this. It's not about the old stuff being better or worse - it's just acknowledging what was lost in the change. The important thing isn't what's on the medium, it's what's happening in your head.
When you're putting a record on, you're making a deliberate effort that you simply aren't when you click play on a file. It sets the stage in a way that influences how you relate to the music that follows.
When you go to the cinema, you engage with the film in a different way than when you watch it at home. Sure, your attention probably wanders less - unless you're a terrible patron you won't be glancing at your phone - but beyond that, sitting in a large dark room full of strangers is a fundamentally different experience (the film critic Mark Kermode compared it to going to church).
When you take a picture on photographic film, yes there's a satisfying tactility to the mechanism - it feels great to turn the film advance lever - and yes there's something beautiful to the images the film chemistry produces, but a huge thing I didn't anticipate was how it changes how you think about the act of taking pictures, and how I engage with them afterwards. Digital photography offers the convenience of essentially unlimited retries at no cost, so of course it makes sense to make a load of variations to give a better chance of getting it right. You can't do this when you only have so many frames available, so you have to slow down and be more deliberate. You can't immediately check your work; you won't see the result until after you've had the film processed, which could be days or weeks later. Sometimes this means you'll miss the shot, or screw up without realizing, but I think that forced deliberateness can be a very valuable exercise. I also find that I spend more time assessing and enjoying those images, in part because more effort went into each of them, and in part because of the delay: they're separated from my memory of what I was trying to achieve, so I can appreciate them on their own merits, and there's fewer of them, so it's not a daunting task to take the time to go through them. So many of my digital photographs probably only get looked at once more after I take them, if that.
At its worst, convenience breeds disposability. That isn't to say we should do away with convenience (not by any means - I'd hate it!); just to remember that the extra effort of the less convenient option sometimes has its benefits.
That's a really solid point, about the disposability of artwork and media in the modern age.
I've done a lot of casual digital photography over the years, but admittedly never dabbled in traditional photography. Perhaps I should pick up one of those polaroid ones that spits the image out right away haha, those have always seemed fun!
@@MecklesFrog I haven’t done much photography of any stripe for years now, and from what I hear the prices are creeping up on the analogue side of things, but I’d say it’s definitely worth a try if you’re into photography. The cheapest route in is to get something that was produced in huge quantities (but is also good). I got a fully working Canon AE-1 P with a few lenses on auction at eBay for about £50. That was about 10 years ago, so I expect prices will have risen somewhat, but you should still be able to find something that wouldn’t break the bank.
If you’re a Nikon photographer, you get the benefit that they maintained lens compatibility from analogue to digital, so you don’t need to worry about building up a new collection. Though to be honest, almost all my analogue pictures have been taken with the nifty fifty that came with it - I treated that as part of the discipline.
I would also describe myself as a “casual photographer”, btw. I enjoy it and am sometimes really pleased with the results, but I always feel like I’ve stumbled into catching a good image. I guess the rare exceptions to that are when I’ve bothered to take out the tripod and do some long exposure stuff. Somehow that feels more “proper”!
Actually if you were someone truly into photography in the days of film you carried a cache of rolls of film and you took lots of pictures, particularly because you had no idea which shot would be the one that was just right. Then after developing them maybe two or three out of 36 would be genuine keepers. It was really the casual photographers who took a small number of pictures, because they wouldn't carry a big supply of extra rolls. They of course were also not more deliberate than they are now. They just took fewer pictures.
@@loganmedia4401 I'm sure (even I would sometimes take a few rolls on an outing I thought would be particularly fruitful). Even so, I do think that hard cap is still something you have to have in mind. Even sports photographers and paparazzi would have to be mindful of how many seconds of continuous shooting they'd have before needing to change roll or camera.
But yes, the modern analogue photography enthusiast is probably quite different than any kind of contemporary analogue photographer in many respects.
i adore this. for the past couple of years i've been trying to figure out why the evolution of our relationship to technology is such an emotional topic to me. you put it into words
Dude, this was so well said. As a 37 year old man I see my kids jump from game to game in the Nintendo Switch Online library and never really progress.
I think that's the real issue. Without the inconveniences we stop progressing through an experience and move on to the next thing the moment we hit any uncomfortable bump along the way. This in turn teaches our brain that any inconvenience is worth bailing on any experience including jobs, and relationships.
Maybe I'm thinking too deep about this.
17 year old here, and I completely agree. When everything you'd ever want or need is given to you immediately, it feels empty. No work was put in to get it, so there's nothing to celebrate when you get it besides just getting it.
I caught myself skipping over important information by reading through it too quickly in text.
Not because I didn’t read it. But because I didn’t give myself time to think about it.
Typefaces like Helvetica are very easy on the eyes and distinctive at a distance, they enable information to rapidly transfer through text to my brain.
But they are so easy, that without taking a very real effort to slow down and actually take that knowledge in:
Everything you read will feel empty.
A video critiquing the algorithm, touched by the algorithm. Delightful
I know right, I keep thinking about it lmao
My favorite cinema is heavily subsidized by the EU, but they show nook films, cultural events, films for children, and small indie productions. Stuff you won't find on Netflix or Prime. A ticket costs 12€ and popcorn 3€, that wouldn't be possible without funding. We would lose so much culture.
I'm only 27. I grew up with this stuff, but I'm not really nostalgic about it either. I have, however, been seeing these kinda of videos and realizing...life back then was better. Not because I didn't have responsibilities or something. I did. Not much has changed in that respect. Slowly going back to interacting with media the way I used to has led me to enjoy it more. I feel more connected to the art and even the world around me the more I...disconnect? Half of my life was spent interacting with my world in one way, and the other half in another. I prefer the prior version.
tbh my nostalgia for these things didn't start to really hit me until a few years ago. When, similarly, I started to move away from smart tech and actively searched for older, more involved ways to enjoy the world around me. Photography with a DSLR camera, collecting dvds and blu rays of the movies I enjoyed, retro consoles with physical games, most recently vinyls. Like you said, by disconnecting somewhat from social media and modern convenience, I started to feel more connected to the actual mediums I was creating/engaging with because I had to interact with them far more intimately.
I too feel more connected to my music through buying it in CD form of downloading it from certain websites and punching in the track and and album information myself. I get to learn the name of the album, I get to see who made the songs that I cherish so much, I get to look up and store the album cover on my PC; I enjoy consuming my music better through iTunes and iPods and downloading them myself.
So much goes into a vinyl, it makes you appreciate it different. You see the artists who hand drew something or the photographs taken out of context while making the album and the inspiration behind what the band wanted to convey to you. Your own interpretation is what makes it really special though. That comes natural.
I've been getting into CDs lately because of this (and because I do not have bluetooth or aux in my car). Something about having limited options makes me appreciate it more. Sometimes when I'm listening to music on spotify, I get bored of every choice there is because there's just so many which never feels good. Something about having a tangible product that plays music you love and being able to sort through different albums and pick them out by hand is so special
Yeah, when my husband and I were travelling and only had CDs, there was an odd charm to only having whatever was in the little CD booklet, and some of the albums we listened to over and over now hold a special place to me
Decision fatigue
Scarcity definitely informs our subconscious perception of value
I love inconveniences in games. It makes me adapt and learn something I wouldn't have, as well as make it more memorable
Once you Limit or Remove the Human Touch in a certain activity... It becomes Soulless...
And the human touch doesn't even necessarily NEED to be physical! Even like, editing these videos, I'm doing it "by hand" rather than having an AI do everything, and that, at least to me, makes a big difference lol
Worse: it becomes soul-sucking.
@@PLKinka God damn straight!
I agree with pretty much 99% of what you said. Just two things:
1) When I was about 11 I was gifted a CD copy of Sgt Pepper by The Beatles. I had never heard it before and was blown away by the music and art cover. I enjoyed listening to it in the car and in my CD player while looking the CD case as it has pictures and the lyrics it was a whole experience. FF to July 2020 T.S. released Folklore during the pandemic. You couldn’t go to the store to see it even if you wanted to. However I fell in love with it pretty much immediately. I thoroughly enjoy that album and is one of my favorites of all time. I never had a physical copy to look at but I enjoyed looking the cover album on my locked phone screen or when I drive w/ the car play. To this day I dont own it yet and I find it to have been just as meaningful to me as when I first listened to Pepper. Although, physical media will always be different experience, I believe it is possible to have wonderful & personal album experiences in the digital age.
2) The car is actually not a convenience actually quite the opposite. For thousands of yrs up until 100 yrs ago humans would walk pretty much everywhere. Now they’re pretty much the only way to get anywhere (at least in the US & Canada). They’re expensive to own and operate and you have to always be mindful of where to put it. They make it hard to get the places and experiences you talked about in the video since you can’t walk to those places. And often we have to sit in traffic just to get to them costing valuable time. America wasn’t built for the car it was bulldozed for it btw. Much like gen z/alpha aren’t aware of an era before physical media, society is unaware of a time before cars. Cars do have a place in society and have made it easier to get to places that are far away. However we should not be car dependent. We should have more choices and options which is the exact point of this video.
I miss going to Blockbuster, burning CDs and making my own mixtapes, rewinding cassettes with pencils, analogue radios in cars, physical mp3 and mp4, stuff like Gameboys or light screen based pocket games, etc. It was more stuff to mind and carry around but yeah, the interaction and dedicated part of each gadget is something I do miss a lot, even with all the convenience of having everything in one single device, I do miss those times.
Tho I am indeed kinda aware that most people, myself included, wouldn't let these conveniences go to go back to those old days, having known what convenience like the one we have is I think a switch back to those times would be hard even for those who want to, I know it would be for me tho I ofc can't speak for everyone.
So I am kinda torn on the subject, for one point I do agree and miss the more personal approach to these elements as well, mostly couch Co-op which is not so common nowadays but luckily you can still play stuff like the Switch with your irl friends and such, but on the other hand, I am also used to the convenience of having everything in one place and be more accessible and less tiem consuming to acquire.
Good video tho mate!
Absolutely, once you have the more convenient option its not easy to go back to the old way of doing things! I use my smartphone all the time lmao, I just find myself thinking a lot about how many small, but imo important, everyday experiences fell to the wayside as a result of everything being consolidated into one device.
beautiful
I'm the only person my age I know with a CD collection. Being raised poor and barely having internet access, while very irritating at the time, is something I'm really grateful for now. Watching others on their phones when they're meant to be happy with friends is always a reminder how I got lucky...
I bought the Pokemon turn table for myself for Christmas and it's wonderful. Listening to music becomes a special event instead of just being background noise. Not to mention, if you have good quality speakers, there is a substantial quality improvement with CDs, lossless files, and vinyl over streaming services.
“When you want to hurry something, that means you no longer care about it and want to get on to other things. I just want to get at it slowly, but carefully and thoroughly, with the same attitude I remember was present just before I found that sheared pin. It was that attitude that found it, nothing else.” - Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
Damn that's a good quote lmao, I coulda used that in the video lol!
But 100%, the whole ritual that turntables involve turns listening to music into an event itself, rather than just "a thing happening in the background". It grants it it's own importance by virtue of having to engage with it more intimately.
Also I just googled it that pokemon turntable is sick as hell
video so good i had to save it to a public playlist and share it💯💯
but seriously i've been noticing the problem with this convenience for so long now. i'm 15, and i essentially grew up on the internet through my mom's unused laptop, which meant i got a little less of the said convenience and actually browsed around the web to the best of my capabilities. this made it so much more shocking to see my classmates and general peers being completely unable to use non-mobile devices, saying computers and laptops were "difficult" and "inconvenient" while to me they just felt like second memory much like my phone does. they also seem to switch around trends and styles and music at an unfathomable speed [and this is coming from someone who changes style completely at least twice a year] due to the constant social media microtrend loop. overall it's like theres nothing that truly sticks with them since they don't take time to consume things in a deeper level, and if they try they always give up because it's not the most convenient easy option. it's kinda depressing imo
the metaphor of the rose and the garden really stuck with me. as a person who loves romanticizing the mundane and studies literature, it resonates with me. thank you for putting my ever increasing agony with technology into perspective.
the internet, for all the good it does, sucks the passion out of me now. my dad was the one who introduced me to the internet 17 years ago with a cheerful optimism. but the more i see it evolve, the less i feel like i can share that optimism to my kids or anyone else really.
the internet was a fun mirror house which is now renovated into a corporate building. and i feel myself straying away from it with each passing moment.
Thank you! I was really proud of that part I won't lie haha, so I'm glad it stuck out to you!
And yeah, I feel that. It's ironic, because without the algorithms and all that, this video wouldn't have reached people, but at the same time, it does feel like in general the corporate-ization of the internet has vastly sucked a lot of the soul out of what made it a special "place" to begin with. But thankfully that soul isn't quite entirely gone, not yet lmao!
thank you so much for watching!
"The internet was a fun mirror house which is now renovated into a corporate building" I need that gif of the feathered pen writing fire cause you hit the nail right on the head in such a great way.
Incredibly well said, i really loved this video. Im 23 now, but almost every single day i miss my life before social media, phones, this new generation of RUclips that puts consumerism above all else. I miss family video so much. When it closed down a couple years back i cried in the parking lot. I miss combing through cds and ds games at Best Buy. Ugh.
I was never that big into Blockbusters, etc. but I DO feel this on a heavy level with card games. My family and I used to get together every now and then and play some card games, but ever since we learned of an app that lets you play online, we've been doing that instead. I feel so distant and isolated when I play on it instead of physically shuffling and dealing cards to my friends.
Oh yeah, I chose rental stores and discs and stuff cause thats where it hits me the hardest, but the switch from physical to digital affects tons and tons of things in a very similar way.
I miss those since highschool, tons of people used to play with me at "free hours"(when teachers were absent basically) when we were bored, and i loved to make jokes and talk about series and movies, or animals and colours, or simply school things, while we shuffled the deck, laughing together.
I miss having meetings with close friends as well, they stopped going to local conventions bc of economy(things were getting oversaturated, too many cons to attend on a single sunday!! And there was nothing fun to do on them, organizers just wanted the money and didn't cared about making the event, well, fun!!), so i rapidly loss a place, time, and way to meet people and have a fun time with them, it's been years since i meet with someone one unrelated to work :(
i think while the internet connected and connects the whole world together and get people communicating literally worldwide, it makes us more and more lonley and isolated
I d say the internet , the web itself is not at fault , but the companies looming over it today.
You are way more likely to form internet conections browsing chatrooms , then on facebook and stuff.
My supplement are the small game lobbies in some games. They are part time chatrooms in the end.
But i might see your point.
Messging to friends is way more diferent than meeting up, but why bother meeting if you may text?
And internet interractions rarely feel like talking.
And with the phones no one ever talkes in busses or trains or stuff.
Did i understand you correctly?
I am *ferg* by the way , nice to meet you here, how are you doing right now?
I was a teenager/young adult in the Eighties and one thing I loved was frequenting repertory cinemas. I saw tons of classic movies, foreign films, and documentaries. I didn't need anyone "recommending" movies for me because I was willing to take a chance on a film I might dislike. (The cheap ticket price also meant that I wasn't taking too big of a risk.)
Sadly, those theatres are gone, and along with them the experience of watching films with an audience of like-minded cinephiles.
I used to live in an area that had a theatre just down the road, and they would do $5 Tuesdays. So me, my husband and a few friends would get together every Tuesday and just go see whatever was new. Didn't matter what it was. Honestly we discovered some fantastic films, but we also have vivid memories of some of the stinkers because the experience of watching them together, that communal experience, is really what made those Tuesdays special.
You made a good point about cost. Going to the movies nowadays is like $20 for the ticket alone. To many people, the financial risk vs pleasure reward is too high.
@@jalapeno1119 Yeah, the financial risk is a barrier these days. Back then, a rep cinema ticket would cost around $2.50, so even if you were broke you could occasionally enjoy a night at the movies.
@@jalapeno1119 You're right about the financial risk. Back then, a rep cinema ticket cost around $2.50, so even if you were broke you could still enjoy a night at the movies.
And never even existed for most people.
I think life moves way too fast these days and people are losing the capacity for patience. We need to bring back old tech. We need to inconvenience ourselves in order to be human. It takes patience to love, to create, to think and feel and develop. This has been my biggest problem as an artist. Just getting sucked into instagram reels or whatever and not allowing myself the time to settle down and be bored and to create art. Too many companies are trying to outdo each other without thinking or caring if it’s good for any of us. And the fact that we don’t get a choice. We have to advance with all of the “progress.” Well, I’m keeping my TV without the apps. I’m keeping my DVDs and DVD player. I’m keeping all of my CDs so I can play them in my car. I’m going to keep collecting vinyls to play on my turntable at home. I need to
Dude, you managed to put a feeling I have all the time into words SO WELL. The endless drive towards convenience actually removes some of the things that make life wonderful.
You didn't really touch on it but an aspect of inconvenience I find really important is, like, waiting. The major thing of so much advertising is like "with our new app you won't have to go to a place and wait in a queue for your thing!" But so much IMAGINATION is done in those moments. Just standing there, kinda bored, looking out the window, and you go oh, that tree is pretty. Oh look there's a bird! I wonder what kind of bird that is. I wonder where I would go if I were a bird. etc etc. Boredom is really important for our brains, and having an endless supply of entertainment in our pockets kinda ruins that.
This is why I have consciously made it a habit NOT to look at my phone when I'm queueing for something. It's a very small change that actually makes a huge difference.
ALSO I LOVE YOUR FURSONA (if you can call it that? idk?) Not enough people's fursonas are bugs. Mine would be an atlas moth. okay thank you have a good day
Haha, thank you! That's a good point tbh, I used to look at my phone all the time when out and about, but my husband helped me cut the habit, and I'm generally happier for it because, like you said: I notice a lot more around me, I think more about the things I've engaged with and the movies or games I've watched, I have more conversations.
Also Fursona is definitely not an incorrect word for it lmaoo. Bugsonas rise up!
When I want to reminisce about just a few years back, I grab the shitty photos I took on a disposable camera instead of any of the photos on my phone. They are physical and they are imperfect, and it makes it all the more real
As somebody who’s still a teenager and has a vinyl collection, I completely agree. These a different feeling to listening to something on Spotify compared to taking out one of the old vinyls and putting it on a turntable, listening to the fuzz and crackle of it. Especially when the record is used, and you can see through the scratches that somebody else has loved and enjoyed the same music as you.
It's actually hilarious when someone is intentionally seeking out the things we tried hard to avoid. Scratches, static, crackles were the bane of our existence.
The process of having to go out of your way for something can also help make it clear what you are and aren’t passionate about.
I do think physical media is very important and also superior to its digital counterpart. I feel this especially with books and even more so with comic books. Like, reading a comic digitally is nice, it maybe even flows nicer (when you’re scrolling at least), but reading a comic physically is so much better because the artwork feels so much more tangible (and don’t even get me started on double-page spreads). I do sadly still read the majority of my comics digitally, because reading them physically is really expensive, but whenever there’s a comic I really like or know I will love I try to get the best physical edition I can.
When you say that you read digital comics, does it mean amazon kindle or a pdf in a phone that is sold on google books?
I grew up listening to cassette tapes and when I wanted to listen to a song multiple times I had to rewind every time and stop when I thought I was near the beginning of the song. Definitely taught me patience.
i loved how you used 14:00 to show exactly why that ad was a huge mistake, great video!
If it's not worth getting up to do then it's not worth doing.
As a possibly neurodivergent person I have to add that added convenience is known to decrease satisfaction. In short the less you work for it the less it sates your brain. The effect multiplies several times for ADHD brain, basically debilitating people and leading to things like obesity because you need to keep CONSUMING to reach the minimal amount of satisfaction and it keeps getting worse and worse.
Adding sensory steps between me and satisfaction helped me immensely, ie letting me loose 35 pounds in a quarter, eating more cake than ever in my life. We stoped binging anime and it’s fun again, even though forcing Netflix to go back and play openings and endings everytime is major pain. Now if only I would be able to cut my internet addiction I would be able to get so much more done.
This hits so hard for me. I actually didn't know I had ADHD until I started to lean into these conveniences and my life became more and more isolated. Looking back, I can see my tendencies and issues were the same, but managed because of my environment, before I spent most of my time in my own home, at a computer, and engaging almost exclusively through the Internet. I had a lot more physical community before which greatly helped me operate more normally. Not having that now has been a stark realization and contrast.
I disagree that it results in less satisfaction. It would also have no relation to obesity. People don't get obese from over-consuming food due to it not being satisfying, but because it is extremely satisfying.
There truly is no meal more satisfying than one you cooked yourself
What do you mean by "sensory steps"? Could you elaborate? I also have ADHD and love to try new ways of managing it and working with my brain
As everything is as readily available as the next thing, less things feel special to me nowadays. The inconvenience of rituals such as putting on a vinyl, a DVD or a CD, making my coffee by hand and not just push a button, taking the time to open a book (and I haven't done that in a long time until recently) instead of looking for an excerpt on the net gives me the capacity to treasure an experience and form a bond with it. Making it special to myself who noticed a decline in excitement in his life. Because when everything goes by quickly, I feel like not forming as many memories anymore. I don't want that, so at some points I am and will be reintroducing some inconvenience into my life. To have some time to breathe and enjoy one thing at a time. To lend my unshared attention to that one thing I am doing right now. And that's what I feel is lost in some parts of todays craze for optimization and productivity as a byproduct of the convenience.
I’m so glad this video found me this was genuinely one of the most beautiful and well-crafted essays I have watched so I just had to check out the rest of your channel.
Another thing specifically about vinyl players is how their “inconvenience” on skipping a song having to lift and drop the needle at the perfect spot does something for us that streaming services can’t. Lots of people would just let the side play through out and just be with whatever music that plays. Giving us the control to skip a song at any time with the press of a button really took that state of just letting all the music play and enjoying the full album away from us.
We are becoming more and more disconnected from others and ourselves. I am a boomer and I have a turn table. I love the feeling of putting the record on and the sound it makes. Easier is not always better.
One thing I hate is self checkout. Stores have chosen to make it the quicker option for them to save some money. And it just upsets me, because it is just one more social interaction that is being removed from our lives, separating us from our fellow humans.
The Book speech from Psycho-Pass always comes to mind:
"Books are not something that you just read words in. They're also a tool to adjust your senses. When I'm not feeling well there are times that I can't take in what I read. When that happens, I try to think about what could be hindering my reading. There are books that I can take in smoothly even when I'm not feeling well. I try to think why. It might be something like mental tuning. What's important when you tune is the feeling of the paper that you're touching with your fingers and the momentary stimulation your brain receives when you turn pages..."
Because everyone has everything immediately in their world, nothing is important, all the way from books to connections. In having to give nothing up for what they receive, the people never understand what it means to truly engage with a piece of media, an event, a person even. I think convenience is great for those who need it more than others, and so I'm glad we have the mediums that we do now, some level is required. But we feel such a need for it now because our time is stolen by endless work and toil. We should not ask for more convenient options, we should ask for more time to engage with inconvenient ones, to engage with important ones. I want to spend an hour with my partner just setting up an activity or a medium and not feel like we've wasted 1/3 of our real free time, to appreciate that we are, for this moment, simply existing together
I've been utilizing my local library more recently, and it has been great to pick up physical DVDs and books that I get to enjoy for free! The limited time I get with the media before the return date also makes me appreciate it more in a way. I still get the interaction with the librarian helping me find what I'm looking for, or the person at the checkout desk. There is a knowledge that I am probably not the first nor the last person to pick this item up, that there is a history of people that have enjoyed this thing and will continue to enjoy it after me. It's less convenient to leave the house and pick up a CD, or to wait for someone to return it so it becomes available, but it means a whole lot more than simply streaming it.
YEAH Libraries are great! I remember finding a ton of comics and manga that I wouldn't have discovered otherwise at the local library when I was young.
I really enjoyed this take. I like to write on Substack and you’ve inspired a future essay for me. Thank you! I’m glad Gen Z are trying to rediscover what made our Millennial childhoods so much better. And why it fostered a sense of community and care for others over care about only oneself.
Its become interesting to me how much i have been turning towards the more inconvenient ways of doing things more and more frequently as of late. Im not even 30 yet and here i am writing a paper list to take to the grocery store. Monday this week i went to see a movie in theaters, Lawrence of Arabia, which relased 62 years ago. I could have watched it at home for free but i went to the theater just because i could. It feels weird growing up loving the Internet and all the new technologies that came out, and now I feel im growing more and more to avoid them.
I'm in my mid 20s and I've recently started learning how to write in cursive. It started with learning how to cut a quill pen, then how to use a dip pen, then how to write with it, and now I'm buying stamps to send letters to my siblings
@@JeanineRadernext thing you know you'll grow and train yourself a carrier pigeon and switch your car for a wagon
i was born in 2005 and still refuse to let go of the tech and formats i grew up using. i appreciate the convenience of things like spotify (which i still use on occasion) and netflix, but know that the ads and limited selection of media just isn't worth it. on top of that, having every song i could ever want available at my fingertips kinda kills some of the joy of listening and i like that i have to be choosy with things like cds.
still miss my local blockbuster.
omg the way you put into words the reason why I love to collect cds and why i still hold onto my childhood dvds even when my mom says it's time to let go... amazing video! (so so nostalgic and forever mourning not experiencing a world without modern internet)
the fact that they, on an individual level, exist and can be handled and engaged with is a part of what makes them feel important to us!
Never let them go.
In rainy nights of a friday when the wifi company cutted the signal, you'll be GRATEFULL you have something to watch with your family bc of keeping them instead of sitting on unconfortable silence together.
I know i always do!! The wifi getting disconnected until monday happened to me MANY times to count.
Thank you for this beautiful video. I have recently made a lot of changes that mean i get to interact with more books, CDs, DVDs, and the difference it has made is really quite astonishing. I sincerely hope to see record shops and DVD shops and in person shopping make a return in the future
there's also something to say about how streaming has ruined the connection of a lot of shows now. on one hand there's the common complaint of how shows have gone from full 20-something episode seasons airing every year to maybe 8 or ten episodes with anywhere between one and four years between seasons. but also, there was something special about making time in your evening to watch a show when it aired live, then be able to talk to your friends at school or work about it the next day. it feels so much more disconnected now