There’s something better than analog
Digital is alluring. Just because you have access to a universe of information in your pocket doesn’t mean you should spend your life in a pocket, surrounded by darkness, your only friends some lint and loose change.
But there’s a dark side to fetishising analog. Things that live on the dark side of analog include the cheap high of spending money on ‘finds’, putting products over people, and hoarding.
As you start to use trips to Value Village or the record store as a release valve, have you noticed certain people who always seem to be there? That’s you, in a little while if you don’t correct your course now.
Ever feel like some of the people you know with a prodigious record/movie/you name it collection are compensating for something?
I have a friend who I suspect is just starting to feel that giving up his collections is worth more than the comfort he used to feel surrounded by them.
Don’t get me wrong. Stuff is important. Artefacts have their places. And well-crafted things can bring both utility and joy, whether they’re analogue or digital. The message here is that it’s important to be deliberate about what we give our physical space as well as our psychic RAM to.
In an era where it’s harder than ever to pay attention, it’s never been more important to. So don’t just turn off Facebook and hide in a collection. Learn a skill. Host a series. Schedule a social event. Plan, enjoy anticipating, and execute events you’ll remember.
PS: In case you don’t get the image in the header, it might mean that you’re under thirty, your parents didn’t read to you, or both. No matter how you slice it, your life will immediately begin to improve when you get your hands on the work of Dr. Seuss. Part children’s author, part anthropologist, his work is the rare kind that delights and enriches children under five and cynical adults at the same time. It looks and sounds simple and silly, but it’s also smart and at times, in the best way, scary.
Awesome header image courtesy of Scarlet Fyre (CC: some rights reserved)
