I was wrong, I do miss physical media
Back in like 2010 to 2014, I was SO FLIPPING excited about streaming services. I was a colleges student with no space for DVDs and not a lot of spending power. So having a convenient place to watch any movie or show I wanted at a deeply discounted price of I remember $5 thanks to a student discount was a dream. Back then it was so much fun to sit around a laptop in our dorms to watch "Friends" or a forgotten early 2000s movie with your dormmates. If you didn't have an account, you at least knew someone who could share, or you would all create movie nights together. Good times all around. Then the prices rose. Not a big deal, they had much better shows at the time, so a price increase made some sense. Then another...and another...and now it's almost 30. Okay but at least everything I want to watch is in one place. Oh, sorry that movie is on Hulu, extra $5-10 please! Wait a second, what's Hulu? Actually, that show is on HBO Go (now MAX), $15 please! This is getting out of hand.... No actually in order to watch this show and that other movie you need Disney+, Paramount +, Shudder TV, Tubi, Discovery Now.......
What in the honest hell happened???
Suddenly all that saving turned into close to $60+ a month. If you wanted to avoid Ads you had to pay even more money. Yes, they added adverts that you still HAD to pay for. By that point, I was barely watching enough movies and TV to justify this kind of cost. It all caught up to me. I cancelled them all and pretty much stopped watching shows for a good couple of years. I only picked up in the pandemic when there were no outdoor activities to be had for a long time.
During that time, I found myself in the possession of a cassette player I got from a yard sale as people were moving. Even more surprising was how many places still sold cassettes. By 2023 I had a small collection with some cassette drawers from the 1990s my friend found for me at a flea market for $2. Finding new music, I never heard of and Throwing caution to the wind to find new artists became the best hobby I ever picked up. One of my new favorites is a band still on tour called Ratboys.
Slowly with my cassette journey, I began to explore DVDs again. I realized how I don't need access to every single TV show in the world. I just need the stuff I like and can enjoy again and again. Or just rent the movies/TV shows box sets. The joy of finding a box with some piece of media I have forgotten about has become such a fun hobby to explore. I'm not just sitting on a couch in the dark staring at the screen wondering what I sound watch in a mindless stupor. Streaming will always have a place at is offers more media access to those who are not near other options as well as access to things we may never be able to find in the wild. Yet it's been interesting watching so many of my peers move back to physical media. We are burned out from the internet that's for darn sure. Thank you for listening to me ramble!