What we think we want

Most physical media in the pre-digital age was marketed to convince us that the book, movie, or music is what we think we want.

When you listened on the radio to the latest single, or read the endorsements on the back cover of the latest book, we had to make an educated guess that when we got it home, we wouldn’t regret spending the time, opportunity cost, and money to buy the book or album.

Digital media changed that. We could listen to as much of any album as we wanted. We decide in real time if it’s worth the time spent.

There’s a few downsides to this:

1. We’re aware that there is a literal sea of choices that are instantly accessible for basically free

2. We constantly have to resist the urge to see what the “other options” are

3. We are always tempted to evaluate what we’re currently consuming instead of enjoying it

Maybe the biggest downside? When we make choices about what we think we want in the future, it’s usually better choices than we make in the moment when we’re tired, not feeling good, or stressed. (Most people don’t start diets today, they do it tomorrow).

. . .

Also, we don’t have to do any of the above, we can choose to listen through the entire album, read all the way through the book, etc. We just have to be deliberate, which takes a lot more discipline.