 June 9th 2008
 Health & Lifestyle
 8 comments
The internet is great. Many people use it everyday and it has become an integral part of people’s lives. One element of the internet that has massive repercussions for how we entertain ourselves is downloading, whether it be films, music or even computer games. Downloading has made access to all that media incredibly easy and it is often, for better or for worse, free. That might be great for our music and film collections but is it great for our personal growth?
I’m not secretly working for the record companies and I’m certainly not going to be writing any pro-RIAA propaganda here. What I propose however, is that the next time you want to download something (legally or otherwise) you think really carefully about it. Not because I sympathize that some multi-million dollar company might lose a sale, but because it becomes a slippy road to apathy (BBC has a very good article looking at research into this issue).
Let’s use music as an example. How can you not appreciate getting that latest album from your favorite band as soon as it appears on iTunes (or BitTorrent)? Because it’s too easy. Think what it’s like having all the music you could ever want right at your fingertips. You hear a great song on the radio, or read about an exciting new band in NME or Kerrang. Within a few hours you can pretty much have absorbed their entire history. On the surface that sounds incredible, but it is in fact a guaranteed way to become jaded and apathetic to it all. I’m only talking in terms of entertainment media here but the principle can apply to everything in your life. You will naturally end up taking it all for granted. Too much of a good thing…
Alternatively, consider struggling for a few hours searching through various record shops to find the album on CD. Sounds like a chore right? But just wait till you get home and listen to it. Having done your research into a band and its discography, waited for the weekend so you could go into town, explored countless shops and finally spent your hard earned money to get hold of it… the music sounds so much sweeter when you finally press the play button.
In summary:
- Think twice before downloading something.
- Fully absorb what you have before moving onto something else.
- Control your intake. Too much of a good thing makes it bad.
- Have a media diet to gain control of your intake.
Reader discussion
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I agree that it’s for our own good not to instantly download all free material, if for no other reason than it just adds to our overall clutter. But, my days are too full to intentionally make myself wait or work harder to get something that is literally at my fingertips and for free!
I enjoy YouTube videos none the less for their immediate accessibility whenever I feel like a quick video entertainment break. Those few minutes throughout the day can be so sweet!
So, I think immediate gratification can be just as sweet as delayed, as long as its done in moderation. Sort of like having a box of little chocolate mints at your desk and rewarding yourself with only one after every hour of hard, productive work. I sincerely doubt I would enjoy the candy more if I had to walk a mile for it and pay $100 for it instead of getting it for free.
I love your thought-provoking posts! You’re always coming up with such interesting topics and ways of looking at things. Thanks!
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Thanks for your kind comments Shanel. You make a good point about instant gratification. I am very proud of my music collection hence my enthusiasm for keeping interested in it and not getting jaded by downloading all the music I come across. On the opposite side, something like YouTube videos I can take or leave. In fact a lot of those videos are designed for immediate gratification (hence their length) so I guess it has a lot to do with how much value something offers.
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So true. I have loads of unfinished things like movies to watch put on the shelf waiting for me to have time to watch them. After two months I usually file them somewhere deep in the basement, which doesn’t stop me from buying new ones. What a waste of resources.
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Um, no.
CDs are so 90s and a waste of resources. Think of the plastic and other stuff that goes into its production and all the cost associated with distribution. When I like a song on a radio or a new album of my favorite band comes out, I download it via filesharing and listen to it. If I don’t like it anymore, I delete.
And because I’m connected to Last.fm, next time the band comes to town it pops up in iCal and I can go to a concert and support the band there by maybe buying merchandise. Living in Berlin helps with that.
You’re right though, that just because it’s easy to download everything that’s out there, it’s not a good idea. There is a cost associated with too much data on your hard disk, like sorting through it, backup time or hauling the 10+ hard drives around when you move.
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While I agree with the idea that this sort of things can cause apathy, I don’t agree with the reasons why. The internet and easy access to stuff isn’t what causes apathy, its that people can easily get into hundreds of different things, topics and hobbies all right at there fingertips. You used to have to spend a lot of time to get into something so that required more effort and time, so you simply didn’t HAVE time for more. Now you do.
If people choose to spend as much time on just a few hobbies or interests they would appreciate it much more instead of simply dabbling or spending just a bit of time in so many areas.
Simplify your life, take advantage of the easy access we all have to new things and hobbies and spend MORE time in a few of those and you will definitely appreciate it more.
Now for this topic, I only have to think once about music downloads. It’s a NO, MP3s are not quality music so I can’t enjoy them. Quality over quantity please! Apply that to your hobbies if you want to avoid apathy.
Great think topic BTW, I love it!
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Mike I have to say that if your MP3s are not good quality, you’re not buying them from the right sources. Amazon deals in 256kbps for example.
As for the post, I agree with the above comments. It’s not the delivery, it’s the attitude. Would you make the same claim about eBooks because you can download them instantly instead of hunting through a couple of bookstores? What about getting an analog book or CD mailed directly to you? Does that count because I’m not downloading, or is it too easy?
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I know what you mean. There was someone I knew that had what seemed like endless music! He would barely spend anytime truly listening to the music. He would start listening to one CD and then just skip to the next CD after a couple songs. I can easily see how people could take artists’ hard work for granted.
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If I lived next to a record store and had hundreds of pounds to spend on music CDs (or could even pick and choose for free), I would get the same feelings of apathy. It isn’t just limited to the internet, as my article perhaps implied. When people were downloading on Napster on a slow 28kb dial-up it wasn’t a problem. With fast ASDSL everything really is right at your fingertips.
If you want to download your music (or film) collection instead of using a 90’s technology like CDs (fair point) there is nothing wrong with that as long as you monitor your intake. I know with a CD that I can’t get it there and then. I listen to a CD for days to absorb it. With downloads it just gets jumbled in with other songs and forgotten about.
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