6 Reasons I Own Physical Media As A Minimalist | Minimalism

[Music] I've recently somewhat changed my mind about how I feel about physical media I've talked about in the past how I almost always prefer the digital version of things like books and games because of space- saving reasons and of course convenience but I wanted to talk about the flip side of this and why there are certain instances I will now choose the physical version even while practicing minimalism because for as long as I've been a minimalist I've stupidly felt like I've had to have some sort of limit on the physical media that I've owned or

that I just wasn't allowed to collect something I really liked this video was inspired a lot by Spencer he makes really great content and I'll link his channel in the description box below but first if you're new to my channel thank you for stopping by here we talk about minimalism Fugal living Tech and things of that nature so if that sounds good to you and to end up liking the video be sure to like and please remove all the bookmarks from the Subscribe buttons books let's get started and I'm just going to get into a

list of reasons why I still own some physical media as a minimalist starting with the first reason which is true ownership and while this might sound the most obvious it's arguably the most important I remember about a year ago Sony announced they would be removing over a thousand shows from people who purchased them digitally through PlayStation without a refund and that really just got me thinking about some of the digital purch purchases I've made specifically with games it was just a reminder that when we buy digital media as long as it's on a server it

can literally be taken down at any time sometimes without warning and there's nothing we can do about it licensing changes and platforms shut down so it's almost like these digital purchases are just things being rented indefinitely and I struggle with this because I can't argue that digital purchases aren't super convenient but this is just the reality of it true ownership to me means I'm holding a copy of what I bought and I can do with it as I please I've bought sold and traded used games for years and only physical copies have given me the

ability to do that and ultimately make some money back the overall point is that true ownership means I could do whatever I want whenever I want with the copy I purchased curation not clutter for me creating limits on physical things I had was a way to keep the amount of media under control and Spencer actually touched on this really well in his video just like I've always had the onein one out rule with clothing where I declutter one item whenever a new one comes in I've always done that with games just because I never wanted

a large physical collection I gave myself a space that I dedicated to my personal media and when that was full I would rotate something out that I wasn't using at all or just using the least and when it comes to games specifically I always have luck just listing it for sale on offer up and even in a way would truly enjoy the sort of ch alleng that comes from trying to sell something that I own and of course I could use that money toward something else I was looking for I would actually just look at

this as I would always be getting some money back that I put in towards a purchase this video is sponsored by epidemic sound music has always been a big part of the videos that I make and Aesthetics that I go for which is typically some sort of picado or classical music and I'm not even exaggerating when I say music almost completely dictated the entire style of my videos here [Music] epidemic sound has a huge library of music and sound effects to choose from that helps me achieve the Cozy cinematic feel that I want and maybe

I'll delve into this in a future video but most of the movies and shows that I grew up watching as a kid also heavily influenced the style of music that I decide to use and I'm not even joking Blue's Clues was like my favorite show growing up and I think if you look hard enough you could see a lot of similarities [Music] and epidemic sound has the exact songs I like to use and they are restriction free not to mention there's literally over 50,000 songs and over 200,000 sound effects to use by far the feature

I use the most is the create versions feature where I can literally select a certain part of the song to include or exclude shorten lengthen it or make it a loopable track which I usually just select the most picado part of the song to use if you create videos in any capacity I highly recommend clicking the link in the description box to soundtrack your content because I'm positive you'll find the music you're looking for so thanks again to epidemic sound for sponsoring this video a more intentional Library I can't be the only person who will

open up HBO or YouTube and just be instantly overwhelmed with a million choices of what to watch and still not be able to find anything Paralyzed by the amount of options and I actually noticed I never have this problem with physical media obviously I don't have the same amount of choices as I do with the streaming service for example but it makes the decision-making process so much more simple I used to look at my digital library of games and just jump in because I'd be too lazy to put in the physical copy of what I

actually wanted to play and wow that sounds incredibly lazy when I just say that out loud but even if I get up for a minute and just reach for the book I want to read or the game I want to play I know that there was at least enough intention behind that choice to make me get up and do it overall this entire point makes me sound like a lazy Couch Potato but I found that ownership of certain physical media makes me have more intention behind that media that I consume enhanced appreciation for as long

as I've talked about minimalism I've always encouraged people to keep the things that genuinely make them happy because of just seeing something in your home Sparks joy every time you walk past it I'd say that's more than a valid reason to keep it around and for me personally that's actually been some of the physical media that I have I'm going to review my dorky side for a moment here but a perfect example of this is my copy of Fire and Blood and my copy of Skyrim specifically for Skyrim every time I see this case I'm

reminded of the great times and memories related to it and that's without even actually playing the game itself I think the important note here is that I can still love owning something and enjoy looking at it without having an over attachment that would make an eventual decluttering of it difficult if it were to happen a slower pace of consumption and this is a huge point I never really thought about until I started using physical media once again the ease of switching from app to app or moving to movie on a streaming service is no doubt

quick and convenient but I've noticed for me when there is practically zero friction I'm more likely to spontaneously put something on without intention I've noticed that for my physical games there's at least one moment where I'm thinking about it and that's usually enough for me to decide if I want to walk over open the case and insert the cartridge and obviously the same thing applies to a movie or a book which ultimately leads to that slower pace of consumption once I started to appreciate that slower Pace much more every time I'm about to choose the

media it became a bit more ritualistic meaning I would just pay more attention to having some time set aside and enjoy consuming that media as more of a session than in small portions throughout the day which in general was more exhausting overreliance on algorithms I don't think it's much of a secret to hear that algorithms follow us wherever we are on the internet I would make the argument that physical media allows me to explore content without algorithms influencing my decision I remember going to Blockbuster as a kid and picking out a movie or game with

zero influence or knowledge about it and it was just a far more exciting experience for me it really just feels like physical media is one of the only ways to get away from algorithms autoplay or recommendations and I doose discovering physical media that I know nothing about contradicts what I say about getting my favorite versions of physical media but when it comes to that media that I get but don't necessarily keep like books from the library it makes the search an eventual discovery of something interesting just that much better and because the more I think

about it physical media is becoming one of the only ways I can disconnect from the internet entirely without having to give up some of the things that I love most and this last part isn't even really a point but certain things just have a much nicer feel when you're using the physical version over a digital counterpart specifically with books I actually read a lot faster and a lot more on an e-reader but to me there's really just no comparison of a physical book itself so I've been reading a lot more than usual lately and I

just wanted to say that I'm in the middle of reading a book called project Hail Mary and it is just so good so if you're in a fiction specifically science fiction I highly highly recommend it overall I think the idea that owning physical media as a minimalist can definitely make sense and for me this is the criteria it has to meet or just some general ideas behind my reasoning for it so I hope that sharing some of my insights can help you decide how you approach physical media in your own minimalism Journey anyways as always

I appreciate the time you spent here and I appreciate you watching if you did like this video and you like this type of content be sure to like and consider subscribing to my channel and I'll see you next time [Music]