Category: Uncategorized

Log off and Slow Down.

CBS via Getty Images. Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, and ‘Mean Girls’ Cast Recreate Iconic Phone Call Scene. Entertainment Tonight, 9 Oct. 2020, https://www.etonline.com/lindsay-lohan-rachel-mcadams-and-mean-girls-cast-recreate-iconic-phone-call-scene-154509

Convenience: the driving force behind most of our decisions. Convenience equals efficiency, and efficiency often leads to time saved. And, as we all know; time is money. Friendships, experiences, and enjoyment often demand effort, and sometimes – inconvenience is necessary. Not everything worth having comes easy, but as a society, it’s become too tempting to take the easy way out.

As a society, we’ve opted for convenience when possible. Instead of driving to the store to find your favourite album, purchasing it, and excitedly popping it in your car’s CD player, we open an app and it is right there at our fingertips. There was a time when I used to count down the days until an album release, line up at the store, and listen through the entire track list from beginning to end, just to make sure the wait and the trek was worth it. Now, I simply open an app, and if I don’t like a song within thirty seconds, I don’t even think twice about hitting skip. The button is right there, and it only took me seconds to download the album. The appreciation for the little things has slowly left us as convenience took over. The effort it once took had forced us to slow down and take the time to have an appreciation for it.

Bloomberg News. “A woman listening to music on headphones in HMV, London.” The Guardian, 21 Jan. 2013, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2013/jan/21/hmv-loss-music-buying-cash. Accessed 17 Oct. 2025.

The appreciation doesn’t stop at the little things. The other day, I realized that the only way I see a close friend of mine is through a screen. A friend that I used to take a bus or walk thirty minutes to see because she didn’t have a phone, now requires a drive through rush-hour traffic to see her. As embarrassing as it is to admit, somehow that now feels inconvenient. Why would I drive for an hour, when all I have to do is tap a little video icon on my iPhone to see her? Why would I call that friend I haven’t spoken to in 3 months to see how they’re doing when Instagram just told me she got engaged this summer and adopted a dog? Why would I take the time to curate a playlist and burn a CD, but I can download a pre-made on Spotify in seconds. Everything I need is right at my fingertips.

Our constant need for convenience has affected our ability to connect with one another, form meaningful relationships and appreciate the small joyful efforts. One day, I began to realize that by choosing convenience and trading effort for ease, somehow along the way – appreciation and connection started to feel optional. 

If social media disappeared tomorrow, would we still keep up with one another?

u/whiskeybacon. “My office setup, 2004.” Reddit, r/2000sNostalgia, 16 June 2013, https://www.reddit.com/r/2000sNostalgia/comments/1af87ri/my_office_setup_2004/. Accessed 17 Oct. 2025.

The year is 2006. The streetlights just came on and it’s time to get my daily hour of screen time. I use my big toe and press and hold the large round button on the desktop sitting on the floor. I hear a hum and wait a few minutes until it’s time to type the family password in so that I can access the computer. I instantly open Internet Explorer and begin playing dress-up games, chatting with strangers on Habbo Hotel, and emailing my closest friends. After an hour I log off, and I am completely disconnected from the internet. This experience feels foreign to me now. These days, the main disconnection I feel is with humans.

There was a time that access to the internet required multiple cords and being stationary. Stepping away from the computer meant losing complete access to whatever was on the screen. Today, our inability to log off with ease can be overwhelming. We can easily stream our favourite shows, catch up to what is happening in the news, and see what a friend or acquaintance is up to with a tap on a screen. 

Keeping up with the lives of others has become effortless. Our constant access to each other’s lives and whereabouts has created parasocial relationships with one another that build a false sense of community. Calling a friend to hear about their graduation isn’t necessary anymore. Instead, we swipe through a carousel of photos and comment “Congrats!” before quickly moving on. “Catching up” has become small talk. We already know what is happening in the lives of others. 

“It’s the same thing as getting together with people when you used to go over to someone’s house with a casserole,” says Dr.Granek, a health psychologist. “But now…that’s become an online space instead of a physical space. ” 

So I prompt you to ask yourself, at what point did connection start feeling so lonely?

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.