Is the evolution of technology and digital media slowly killing the art of physical media?
“Stack of books, library, CD, headphones, wooden table and bookcase.” Examples of Copyrights, by Nicole LaMarco, Contributor, Small Business – Chron, Getty Images, https://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-copyrights-60208.html. Accessed 16 Oct. 2025.
The other day, I was in a friend’s living room and I noticed a new book on the table. I picked it up, excited to flip through the pages to see what the pages held. As soon as I lifted it up, I couldn’t help but notice how light it felt in my hands. I reached for the hardcover, and came to realize it didn’t open. The book was fake. Glued shut, hollow, and completely weightless. I’ve seen this before, and something about this has always felt very dystopian to me. In that moment, I couldn’t help but wonder why she wouldn’t just get a real book. If it were real, I’d probably open it up, skim through the writing or images, and probably ask some questions about her thoughts on the book. Instead, we sat on her sofa and sent each other TikTok videos two feet away from each other for a few hours.
I’d love to sit here and pretend I’m above digital media. I’d love to say “I don’t have Instagram” every time someone asks me for my handle. The reality is, without digital media I’d be unemployed or working a job that I hate. Even so, the more connected we become as a society, the more I crave a time in which digital media was something only wealthy people had access to. Something that disappeared once you stepped away from a desk. I still remember a time that all my favourite forms of media were something tangible, something I could feel and touch. Something I could put on a shelf, in a box, or on a wall. Now, every form of media that I knew has been digitized:
- Flipping a record or getting up to change a song on your CD player has become tapping play on Spotify or Apple Music.
- Spending an hour in the aisles of Blockbuster to find the perfect horror film has become tapping play on Netflix.
- Waiting in line at the music shop to sample the latest album with oversized headphones on has become waiting until midnight on a Friday night to press play on a touch screen.
- Getting lost in the bookstore while exploring new genres has become doom scrolling through #booktok until you find the perfect recommendation, then tapping “download” on an E-reader seconds later.
I can’t help but wonder, when did my media collection stop becoming something I could touch? If everything I love is behind a screen, what’s left when the battery is dead?
DVD racking empty large.” EZR Shelving, E-Z-RECT Ltd, https://www.ezrshelving.com/cd-and-dvd-racking.html. Accessed 16 Oct. 2025.
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