Technology

This has been the Infinitely Unfolding Paradox of Enjoyment that we’ve been experiencing since the Industrial Revolution. And it’s only become more acute as time has gone on. Things are becoming easier to access, we have more information than ever, it’s right at our fingertips, we have endless entertainment, we expect to be enjoying 100% of endless content—but this has made us angrier than ever at content we don’t enjoy, less able to enjoy the available entertainment, always looking for something better, he information at our fingertips is making us angrier and less satisfied (also somehow more misguided and ignorant—because that information is mixed in with absurd amounts of disinformation and it’s given an equal playing field), and our ease of access comes with an endless desire to access more and more while finding less and less we actually want.

Things are technically getting better, enjoyment is becoming a pinpointed prescription…but more and better is making us lesser and worse.

We need the bad to more enjoy the good. We need the inconvenience to enjoy the convenience. We need a lack of technology to enjoy the available technology.

Really, what this all boils down to is this:

Capitalism is destroying everything. In so many words. And if anyone can’t see how everything above is linked with capitalism and its driving force of profit (and endlessly growing profit, at that), I dunno how to help you. But I assume everyone on lemmy is pretty much very, very aware of this.

Those weren’t necessarily seen as inconveniences at the time, because people had not experienced the “easier” alternatives to compare to. They were just seen as the way things were, and people made the best of them just we do with day to day activities now.

Going to the video rental place was part of the weekend routine for me, blended in with shopping etc. One of the rental places I used to go to also sold music, and tickets for local events. They also had a bunch of posters and notices up about local happenings. Customers would often bump into friends and acquaintances while browsing. The rental place also had a letter box that returns could be dropped in when the store was closed, so rentals would often be returned Monday morning on the way to school/work.

Media distribution has now changed a lot from then, and it’s become easier and more efficient. But it’s also changed how we interact with media, and with our communities, and perhaps not always for the better.

Remember when you got to choose what you watch and you had to pick up a remote and look at it on a rectangle?

-Future us, maybe

Back then it was something to do. Now we've gotten rid of all those things to do for the sake of laziness, but we have nothing left to do but sit around the house and watch/play downloaded movies/games. And everyone wonders why they're bored and no longer have any friends.

All the time and attention that digital everything saves us has been turned into ad space.

Doing something real like driving to blockbuster for instance used to be your time. Sights, sounds, someone’s hand in yours, a song on the radio. We used to own those moments, for free. Those things were your memories. Trading all that for “convenience” seems like a bum deal to me. Maybe I’m just getting old.

That is very much a rose tinted glasses scenario.

It wasn't that going to Blockbuster was an inconvenience. Those things were like modern day Starbucks where you don't even bother to check a map. You just drive in one direction for three or four minutes and find at least two. Hell, the one we went to was across the parking lot from the Pathmark and it was pretty common for mom to send me and my sister to go pick out a movie or a game while she went through the checkout line.

The reality is that there just wasn't a good alternative. Some people would use mail order catalogs but those came out with enough of a delay that it was never worth it. This month (or quarter's) magazine arrives three weeks after Mission Impossible has hit VHS. And by the time the order is sent and arrives, it has been another two weeks. And then you either have a video for a week longer than you need or you need to remember to go to the post office on Monday.

It was The Internet that made this viable because you could see what was available the moment it was available. And your order was instant so you only had the shipping time to worry about.

But also? Once The Internet became available, there was almost no need to stare at shelves to figure out what movie you wanted to watch (I hear Harvey Keitel hangs dong in that one) because you could do exactly that from the comfort of your own home... so long as you weren't expecting a phone call.

And it is not like people ever truly hated the idea of physical stores. Clothes shopping online is still a mess and that is why Amazon specifically have easily reasealable bags so you just buy three sizes of pants and return the two that don't fit.

But also? Once you know the sizing for a given brand/range of clothes, you don't need to do that anymore. You know what to order in what size and it will fit. Maybe you have to try stuff on if you try a new brand/store but...

Which becomes a problem because all those brick and mortar stores are now getting a few sales a month, rather than a couple dozen per day.

Which is also one of the things that make me (mostly) proud to be a climber. Obnoxious trust fund dirtbags aside, the vast majority of us will try to buy at least some of our hardware and gear at an REI or (better yet) an actual local store. Because yes, we are getting gouged a bit. But it means that the store will be there when we need to decide between four or five options or get fitted for snow shoes or whatever.