While driving around town with my family this past weekend, my brother pointed out a Family Video store and remarked how it was possible they were still open. My father jokingly replied that they must be a cover for dealing drugs, as this was apparently the only logical reason for their existence.

Since the advent of the internet, it could convincingly be argued that there has been a cultural shift away from the tangible and towards the intangible; and that this shift has been accompanied by reflective changes in the economic structure. Netflix has crushed Blockbuster. Border’s went bankrupt. Entire magazines and academic publications can now be obtained online, as can songs from all genres of music. Offices are increasingly choosing to go paperless to save storage space and increase efficiency. One can even choose to become paperless themselves by receiving bills, advertisements, newsletters, etc. via e-mail. Despite the preferences of some who still like to actually hold things like books in their own hands, one could safely say that we are moving towards becoming a paperless culture.

But wait - what about money?

What about those pieces of paper that, purely because of a federal designation, govern the lifestyles and aspirations of nearly every person in the world? Surely, while currency is still a daily need, we can never truly go paperless…right?

Well, not necessarily. With the invention of Bitcoin by an anonymous software developer just five years ago, and it’s increasing acceptance among both online and tangible retailers, we could potentially see a paperless global market in our lifetimes.

Imagine: an economic, international revolution in which the currency is not regulated by any one government or treasury, and credit card companies are abandoned for the lower interest and exchange rates of a coin that can never be used to make a “heads or tails” decision. Where forgetting one’s wallet is not a problem anymore, as the only necessary tool needed to make a purchase is a smartphone.

I think I just felt Adam Smith and Ayn Rand roll over in their graves. But I digress.

So people of the industrial and business worlds are all going paperless, and trees everywhere are rejoicing.

But the question must be asked: does a shift towards the intangible also mean a shift away from materialism?

For the amount of advertising (that could certainly be construed as capitalistic) constantly bombarding us has only increased with the evolution of the internet and the paperless society. It is rare to find a YouTube video without a 15-second ad attached, and Google Ads continues to creep me out with their knowledge of what they think I desire. Online shopping has made it easier than ever to locate and purchase both the necessary and the unnecessary. There may be a lack of paper bags branded with designer labels and receipts enumerating recent buys, but the purchasing power is still there. And with it is the never-ceasing encourage by corporations to buy, buy, buy.

In this new digital “paperless” epoch, the meaning of materialism must be re-examined. In the past, materialism has always been associated with the tangible objects one can own or possess power over. According to Webster, it is “a way of thinking that gives too much importance to material possessions rather than to spiritual or intellectual things.” But just because you can hold a library of thousands of songs, books, and movies in the palm of your hand does not mean you get the simple living award for the un-materialistic ultra-evolved intellectual. Sure, going paperless saves space and removes clutter, and also (with internet access, of course) places the things you need to check everyday at your literal fingertips.

But that doesn’t mean that the items you own, both tangible and intangible, don’t own you in turn.

How often do you feel compelled to check your various social media accounts? When you have a mountain of work to do, and yet you find your fingers typing “Facebook” or “Twitter” before you can even try to stop yourself? How much time do you waste online trying to build up your personal brand, acquiring invisible digital points that will hopefully increase your Klout score?

How much money do you spend on digital items like movies, songs, and books, without even realizing it because you don’t have to actually “see” them in front of you?

Paperless does not mean less materialism; in fact, I fear the increasing shedding of paper may only make moderns more materialistic than ever before, but in a different sense of the word.

And until there is a true shift towards the desiring of intangible ideas, and not items, the buy/buy/buy/sell/buy some more nature will continue to prevail the American spirit.