A Defense of Physical Media in a Digital Age

I’m lying in the bed, with a phone in hand. Simply swipe your finger and you’ll get access to almost every component of literature, film, or music. Needless to say, it goes without saying that there is a live stream of physically held church services 2,000 miles away. I can move from War and peace In Monastery Road In a few minutes, I went to Bethel Church in Johnson and Doug Wilson’s Christ Church.

This is an exaggerated image, but it shows you the possibility that it may be contained within a modernized streaming system and its “content.” These systems have their advantages and do not mean that my caricatures will completely strip them of merit. I love how bedridden church members can see service and interact with their churches in ways that didn’t existed 20 years ago. Internet services such as Reddit, YouTube, and Streaming Algorithms can be exposed to creative works that viewers have otherwise never encountered. It may take several minutes to receive your recommendations and become involved in them. This unprecedented access to art is worthless.

It goes without saying that this seamless consumption is not without its downfall. The idea that a church can be easily put together with a pool of “content” is very problematic, but I have more about it in a flash. Books like Anxious generation We’ve revealed the troublesome effects that technology has on children. Books like this are very helpful in understanding younger generations, but they are also easy to refer to obvious brain rot. “Skibidy toilet” and “l rizz“It became a popular slang among the younger generations, and naturally makes many of the older generation uncomfortable.

However, the younger generation is not the only patients of digital corruption. Adults often adopt services that help them get victims of mindless scrolling and move away from the physical world. As adults choose curb pickup services and grocery delivery, daily tasks like in-person shopping become obsolete. Again, these services have their locations, but no matter how microscopic it appears, we need to recognize the impact they have on us.

With increasing dependence on digital microconvenience, digitality becomes a power plant of unconscious consumption and physical withdrawal. Our culture essentially downplays the importance of physicality, as it approves digital consumption in more aspects of life. It has incredible meaning in how society functions, such as how we perceive the world of media and the world of artistic expression.

The Bible is not vague about the importance of physicality. Paul wrote about human physical beings:1These. 2:17-18). The Hebrew author encourages the audience to “not” [neglect] To meet together”Heb. 10:25). New Testament writers overwhelmingly support the idea that physicality is important.

God is more concerned with my physical attendance and presence in the church body than in the way I hear. OK ComputerBut I believe there are fundamental principles that extend to art. The Old Testament contains several examples of God’s concerns about physicality in the created works he commissions. The specific instructions Noah received in the construction of the Ark (Genesis 6:14-16) refers to the functional importance of details. God’s emphasis on details does not stop at its usefulness. He also focuses on beauty and aesthetics. Exodus 25 It includes God’s demands for the construction of the tabernacle. Made from gold, silver, scar-colored threads and onyx, God’s sanctuary filled with incense is a physical expression of the beauty of the senses. God may not live in the art gallery as he did the tabernacle, but there is an important (obviously few) for aesthetics and beauty that should not be ignored.

One way God reveals himself to mankind is through his creation (ROM. 1:20). Just as humans were made with the image of God, it is part of our nature. However, this goes beyond what the mainstream considers “artistic expression.” Architecture, culinary arts, cabinet construction, gardening, and highway construction are all the ways in which our God-given creative tendencies are expressed. Especially when you look at how it should be physically understood as “media”, you need to ask if something is lost when consumed digitally. Are there any essential benefits to vinyl spin with Spotify streams? It’s not a moral issue, but I strongly believe that something is lost in these forms of digitalization. There are three specific areas where you can find what you get through physical media and are digitally lightly mean.

1) Singularity of physical objects

When we choose to engage in physical media, we choose to engage in physical objects, where our sole purpose and matter are the art itself. My copy of Notes from the underground It’s simply that. As an object, it serves no other unique purpose other than being a structure of a page containing a specific translation of the book or accompanying commentary. If you want to read another book, or another translation of the same book, you need to find and engage with another physical object.

This singularity helps to form a stronger connection between consumers and the work created. I clearly remember the yellow page of a copy of Cormac McCarthy’s All cute horses. Its shiny cover and National Book Awards stamps are impressed with my memory of the book. Looking at another form I know exactly where my vinyl copy is A little blue There are skips and scratches. These physical idiosyncrases help me get involved and remembered in the work than if I had consumed it with a mobile app alone.

2) Experience

Each artistic medium enjoys experiential benefits when choosing physical involvement. This “enhanced experience” differs from form to form, with some digital forms offering a final product that is very similar to the physical counterpart, if sometimes not better (movie streaming vs. DVD). Other formats and services have a greater disparity, such as the sound quality of compressed Spotify streams and CDs. Film media requires more expensive, high-end physical forms (such as standard collections). Better yet, watch the film screening In a real movie. There is the raw warmth present in 33mm rolls of film, which can be lost in digital rendering, compressed through streaming services and displayed on low-resolution displays.

Experience in physical media allows the work to gain uninterrupted, isolated experiences from other worlds. Streaming and unpaid music services often disrupt the seamless experience they were doing with advertising. Get Sweeper Ads during the last shot of The 7th Seal It’s not a way for Bergman to imagine his audience going to experience the film.

One of the ultimate goals of physical media is to get consumers to work in a way that is more intentional. CDs and vinyl create manual actions on the listener side, creating physical rituals and buy-in. Research Show Reading physical books leads to stronger retention. If you choose something and try to get into the physical entry into the process of watching, reading, or listening, there is an increased retention and mental involvement.

I believe this understanding of physicality is somewhat inherent to humans. Everyone “sees” Monalisahowever, many will travel to the Louvre and see in person. On a large scale, our desktop backgrounds are overflowing with beautiful natural scenery, but no one would argue that the stock image of the Grand Canyon would be compared to the real thing. Whether it is God’s creation or at our own level, humans seem to inherently understand that physical involvement with the created work leads to deeper, more intentional experiences.

3) Curation and Collection

Physical media creates opportunities for individuals to purchase and collect their favorite created works. Collecting has important financial factors that can be deployed in a variety of ways. Artists are supported through these forms, there is a book sale, and vinyl/CD sale is an important part of them achieving economic independence through their art.

At the consumer level, buying physical media creates investment. This buy-in can occur through money spent, space taken, or something “given” in the process of adding pieces to your collection. This buy-in means that you cultivate thoughtful curation of your work (except for obsessive reservoirs) and that your collection is caring and thoughtful. I love that my vinyl shelf contains albums that I have loved for many years and serve as background documents for my life. The seasons of my life are soundtracked by the album. My copy of The blue of helplessness It’s not just a music record. This reminds me of the time I search for jobs, earn my degree, play records every day, and find catharsis in it.

Collecting physical media also allows you to truly “own” your work in a certain state. VHS tapes cannot be changed by studio executives, artists cannot change the mix of CDs, and governments cannot change the words of paperbacks already owned. Physical copies are specific to the content and can only be altered by physical intrusion. In a world where each religious and political persuasion has extremists vulnerable to censorship, physical media is a breakwater for free speech, expression and documentation.

I recently looked into some of my deceased grandparents’ belongings. I could almost feel the impression they left behind in theirs. My grandfather left for over seven years, and when I looked up his bookshelf I saw his heart and interest. His devoted bookmarks, his notes in the Bible, and covering the tattered coincidences were not pointless. These types of connections are around us, and we all form meaningful connections with the physical.

My purpose is not to make myself or others materialistic. That’s actually the opposite. I would argue that excessive reliance on digital feeds consumers’ thinking that underestimates the physical things God wants to engage with us. Physical issues beyond the media. The world we live in is a world that God has created to leave us behind and we can connect.